Reminiscences of a voyage around the world

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HARVARD

COLLEGE
LIBRARY

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REMINISCENCES

OF A

^voyAqe

AEOMD THE WOELB,

/

By R. O. DAVIS.

Assistant Librarian in the University of Mlchigui,

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN:

mu CBASB'S STBAM printing HOUSK, 41 * 43 north MAUI STRXBT*

'^' Digitized by Google

t

^^ 4 %\'^.H'].

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Tear 1809, by

A. W.,CHABB, M. D.,

In tlie Clerk's Office of tlie District Conrt of the United States for
the Eastern IMstrict of Michigan.

HBST EDmOSr— SIX THOUSAND.

^

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PREFACE.

•ANY young aspirants for literary honors represent
their first literary productions as accidents, or oc-
currences as inevitable as fate. If you believe what they
tell, you will think they were but faintly consdous of anv
voluntary act. They felt (they say) the throes of intellectual
travail; sympathising Mends called in the accoucheur (an
acoommodiftting publisher); then followed an interval of
blank oblivion, after which they languidly raised Uienaselves,
and beheld, with emotions of pcofound surprise, the result,
▼iz.: a 12mo, muslin covered volume!

All this is a diffuse way of presentii^ a view of the
matter that ^^Wemmick" (a character of Bickena, remark-
able for his idolatry of " portable property," and the numer-
ous accidents that befel him,) would have presented in the
single exclamation, ** Halloo, here's a book I"

This little volume was produced in no such miraculous
way. It was written for the purpose of increasing, to some-
thing like an adequate amount, an insufficient salary. The
labor was often done in weariness and depression.

It is not expected that mature minds will find, either in
the style or the matter, much to interest or instruct them.
But it is hoped that for boys, this narrative of youthful ex-
perience, on the " great ocean," and in " distant lands," will
possess interest, and afford instruction.

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4 FBSFAOS.

Possess dttbrbst — ^because there is something irresistible
to youth in the weird charms of the ocean, laving, as it does,
the shores of so many and such diverse lands; reflecting,
the constellations of both hemispheres; and containing in
its vast bosom such myriads of wonderful creatures.

Afford instruction — because it is a faithful narrative
of actual events, and describes truthfully the places visited
during the voyage, as well as the habits of the people, so
far as I had opportunity for observing them. Whatever
interests and instructs, also exerts and influence. Now all
influences are not for good. The moral scale in human ex-
perience, alasl is graded down as well as up. Have I
thought of this? Tes, I realize the responsibility of one
who would apply force to character. And I think there is
not a thought expressed in all the following pages, that if
inconsistent with this profession.

I should do violence to my feelings if I dosed these
prefiiratory remarks, without saying that I feel towards the
publisher of this volume, such sentiments as a grateful miui
feels towards him who has used him kindlx and generousljr*

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PUBLISHER'S NOTICE.

**! have heard of the fSeur-off sea,

I have heard of its hollow roar—
Of its rolling, rambling revelry,

Far out from the quiet shore ;
I have heard of It-s caverns strange

And deep,
M'here the beings that heed no change,
Find sleep/'

) HO has not ** heard of the far-off sea," and who,
^2^tS§) I would ask, is not deeply interested in all that
fehites to it? Probably there is no other subject of thought
itk the world, which so enchains the mind, of every reader,
as a good description of sea life incidents. Why such an
interest in sea-life ? Because the degree of interest awaken-
ed in the mind always depends upon the suddenness with
which danger to human life may arise from the surrounding
circumstances, and the means at hand, upon which one must
depend for relief— rocky shores — sunken reefs—raging storms
the lightning flash, etc., have all to be met, on the sea, and
provided for at ouce, or destruction overwhelms them in a
moment ; and sometimes the danger is increased by the
drunkenness or neglect of officers ; for instance — the gocd '
ship Hampton has been running, one afternoon, with a light
breeze, having all sails set, and the Wind, at night, although
somewhat changeable, yet not sufficiently so to shorten sait

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6 publishbb's koticb.

during the captain's watcli, he having charged the mate to
careAillj observe the darkening sky, at the North, during his
watch, and, if need be, " to unrecve the studding-sail gear,
rig in the booms, and furl the light sails ;^* but instead of
keeping "an eye" on the clouds, he allowed them to close
in sleep, until the dawn of the morning, when the captain,
realizing a change in the atmosphere, jumped out of bed to
consult the barometer, and finding that it had foUen alarm-
ingly, hastened to the deck to find the mate just waking
from his stolen slumbers, rubbing his eyes, and not yet half
awake : while " a glance aloft showed that he had neglected
his orders. The studding-sail booms were out, the gear all
rove, and all sail set, from the flying jib to the spanker —
from the royals to the deck; and Just to windward, close
aboard, was a furious squall bearing down upon the ship.
Before it, on the water, a line of white foam— above, a black
impenatrable wall, reaching to the frantically flying clouds."

The captain, realizing the danger of his position, singa
out, in a stentorian voice, to the mate — " Go below, sir. Go
directly below, sir I — ^hard up your wheel — ^work sharp ! Call
all hands. Clew up the royals and topgallant-sails, fore and
aft Down flying jib and stay-sails. Brail up the spanker,"
etc., — which put every man upon duty in the ship, the neg-
lectful mate excepted, with all the activity they were master
o? to save themselves from immediate deiatruction by the
fury of the storm. Upon another occasion a man jumped
over-board in a storm, and was lost, etc., ect.

Think you, gentle reader, that there was •no interest felt
by those on board the Hampton, under these circumstances ?
Or, where can you^nd an individual, old or young, who
can read the description of these incidents, without having
his whole soul thrilled with an intensity of interest, as
though actually suffering with them in their imminent peril f

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PUBLISHEB^S NOnCB. 1

This voyage was made in a new merchant ship, the
''Hampton/' from Bath, Maine, between September, 1849
and Augost, 1851, via Cape Horn to San Francisco, and the
Sandwich and other Islands of the Western Pacific, to Cal-
cutta, returning by the Cape of Good Hope to London, Eng-
land, thence to Boston, touching at many intermediate points
along the ronte, in the Western Pacific, East Indies, etc, of
which no previons description has been giyen.

And this voyage undoubtedly proved more ftiU of interest-
ing incidents Arom the fact, as will be seen firom the above
dates,'that it was made in the time of the California '' gold
fever ;" hence, most of the crew left the ship at San Francisco
for the goid. fields, and others could only be shipped to go as
&r as the Sandwich Islands, from which place only raw
** Kanakas" — Sandwich Islanders — could be obtained, among
whom ignorance, neglect of duty, and mutiny were the most
prominent traits of character, calling for instruction, great
patience, and, upon one occasion, the handcuff, " to bring
them to time."

The Author being also a son of the captain, whose life had
been spent upon the ocean, a much better chance for obser-
vation was enjoyed, and a much greater amount of informa-
tion received, than would have been obtained by any other
writer.

The " Reminiscences" were first written for the " Youths*
Department " of the Peninsulak Courieb and Family
Visitant, a weekly newspaper we have published some five
years, the readers of which, old as well as young, clergymen
as well as others, have called for their publication in book
form ; therefore, notwithstanding the natural timidity of the
author, leads him to say : "It is not expected that mature
minds will find, either in the at^le or the matter^ much to in-

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HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER L

At Bath.— Destination the "Golden Gate," San Francisco.— Slosh-
ing down the mast.— "So you are the Captain's Son. are you?*'
—The " ship's cousin."

CHAPTER II

"Out to sea."— Jackknife Ledge.— Heartsick, homesick, and «ea^
fficA;.— Instruction to those seeking *' a life on the ocean wave,
and a home on the rolling deep."— A new existence, after the
sea-sickness.— A consciousness of the presence of God.— On
Him the trusting heart leans daily.

CHAPTER III.

The Gulf Stream.— What makes it?— Different theories.— Its oourstt
and benefits.

CHAPTER IV.

The Ship, her crew, and something concerning her management ;
or, sea-usages.

CHAPTER V.

Sickness and death of Ezra Whitman.— He committed his firail
bark to Christ, the faithful Pilot and Steward, for that city
whose twelve gates are twelve pearls, aiyl whose streets are
of pure gold.— A comparison.— A burial at sea, and seamen's
superstitions.

CHAPTER VI.

The "Sargasso," or weedy sea, interesting to the naturalist, idass-
ical, and mediaeval student.— Yellow-covered literature, or
"dime novels."— To cure the propensity for reading them.

CHAPTEJR VII.

The Trade Winds.— Their study increases our love and reverence
for the Great Creator.- Phosphorescent light in the ship's path.
—"A man overboard."— The old Spanish navigators.— The po-
etry of the sea.— The Dolphin, Petrel, Porpoise, Nautilus and
Tropic Birds.

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10 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.

The cairns of the Equator, the sailors' " Do Wruww."— Intense heat.
—Poor water.— Capture of a Shark.— LlftecLon deck.— The "Doc-
tor" prostrated by a blow ft*om its caudal extremity.— Like the
opossum, the female shark, when in danger, secures its young
within itself.— Different species.— Perpetual summer.- The Sun
is king.— Bare beauty of a tropical " sunset at sea."

CHAPTER IX.

The Island of Fernando Noronha, the Van Dieman's Land of
Brazil.— A suspicious sail.— iSailors prepare for a fight.— Off
Cape Frio.— Catamaran, the Brazilian craft |pr trading and
coasting.- Arrival at Bio Janeiro.

CHAPTER X.

A description of Bio Janeiro and its surroundings.— The Am^ri*
can Consul, Es-Gov. Kent, of Maine, dines on board the
Hampton.— The Chigoe, beds in your flesh.— Lizards, cock-
roaches and snakes get into the bed.— Scorpions sting on the
foot.— Everything bites, stings, or braises In the TroplcB.

CHAPTER XI.

r

A Jesuit experiments with the Chigoe; but loses Ma y%>o^.— Empire
of BraziL— Start from Bio.— "The Brazilians are brave."

CHAPTER XII.

Tropical Birds and Fishes.— The Booby, so called troxa its tame-
ness or indifference to capture.— Lieut. Biigh and his com-
panions set adrift in mid-ocean by the mutineers of the
Bounty, were saved from starvation by the capture of this
bird, (See Chap. XXII for the end of his voyage).— Frigate-bird.
— Flying- flsh, etc.— The "Doctor." (cooks, on shipboard, are
always called " Doctor.")— Loses his " free papers " at Bio.— A
passenger finds and returns them.

CHAPTER XIII.

A heavy gale.— Bird-catching.- The Albatross.— The Stormy Pe-
trel, from Peter, because they walk on the water.— The Dog-
fish.— Fall in with the Harriet Bockwell, from Boston, and
the Oriental, from Machias, Me., full of passengers, bound for
the golden shores of California.- Visit, and sail on together.

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CONTENTS. 11

CHAPTER XIV.

A. trial of speed.— The Hampton ontsails all competitors.— Enter
Valparaiso, €hili.— Description of the Day and city.- A street
light, while there, between the Police and abont 200 English
and American mpn-of-war's men.— One Policeman killed.^
Great excitement.— An explanation about the loss of the Es-
sex, Gom. Porter, at this place, in the last war with England,
Admiral Farragat particii>ating as midshipman. —French pas-
sengers from Valparaiso to San Francisco.— One, a Conjurer.—
Some of his tricks.— Nearly a light.— Reach the •* Golden Gate,"
San Francisco, Feb. 27, 1850, 173 days out.— Eldorado at last,
and out of seventy souls, all there save two. Whitman and the
Steward, who Jumped overboard in a btorm.

CHAPTER XV.

Bay of San Francisco.— Forests of masts.— Ships fi-om every land.
—The Golden Gate, entrance to the Bay.— Islands de los Ange-
les, Los Aleatrazes, and Yerba Buona.— Currents of the Padflc.
—Mate and Steward discharged, and the crew run off to the
"gold diggings."— Cargo discharged.— Ship cliartered to go to
Calcutta and load for London.— Crew shipped for the Sandwich
Islands.— Sansalito.— Mrs. Brown.— Sail for Honolulu.
*

CHAPTER XVJ.

Arriye at Honolulu.— Sailors leave to return to San Frandsoo.—
They constitute our Author their Treasur er while they visit the
shore.— A sailor's economy.— Description of the Island.— The
Missionary work, and what they had to contend with.

CHAPTER XVII.

Still at Honolulu.— Further description.— The DeviPs Punch Bowl,
the crater of an extinct volcano.— A Kanaka crew.

CHAPTER XVIII.

DMcription <rf our Kanaka crew.— Sail ftrom Honolulu.— Violent
rolmig of the ship.— Awkwardness and Aright of the Kanakas.
—The Cook calls them to account for wasting his beans; "If
dat's de way de beans go, dar wont be many board dis ship
before soon."- Instructing the Kanakas to work the ship.— The
Qinolo and Ombay i>assage chosen, through which to pass the
East Indian Archipelago.

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If COKTBNTS.

N CHAPTER XIX.

In the Torrid Zone.~Illne88 of the Author.— Baming thirsty uiM
not allowed water.— Tantalizing dreams of water.— Recovery.—
Independence Day, off the Ladrones.— lire the brass Ibor-
I>ounder.— The Mate kicks a Kanaka.— Matlny.— Five whites
and one colored, the cook, against nine Kanakas.— Ladron is
a Spanish word signifying a thief or a robber, the disposition of
the inhabitants of the Ladrones.

CHAPTER XX.

The Island of Mariere, near the Molucca Passage.— Contrary winda
*' Swinging round the circle."— In sight of the Island thirteen
days.— itf^erere, a more appropriate name.— Gained a day by
sailing west.— Explanation, by Edgar A. Poe, of "Three Sab-
baths in one week."— Passing the Molucca Passage.— Island of
Oillolo, one of the largest of the Moluccas, or Spice Islands.—
Productions.— Belongs to the Dutch.— Reptiles, "Birds of Para-
dise, etc.— Malay conquerors.— Treacherous and bloodthirsty.—
Bouro Dome, or Tamahoe Mountain.— The Doctor's difficulty
to make one of the Kanaka crew understand him.— Strength of
the Kanaka's skull.— Tougher than a squash.

CHAPTKR XXL

Becalmed under the shadow of Bouro Dome, on the Island oi Xnl-
la Bessy.— Squally.— Fearful of the coast of Celebes.— A sail.-*-
Copang, on the Island of Timor, chosen to stop at for water.—
The "Milky Sea."— Report of Capt. Trebuchat, of the corvette
Capricieuse, through the French Minister of Marine, to the
Academy of Science, in Paris, as to Its cause.— Attributed to
glow-worm animalculse.- A blow with an iron belaying pin
upon a Kanaka's skull.— A Kanaka again in irons.- Rocky
Island of Po Cambing.— In sight of Copang.— A schooner leads
ns into the Bay.

CHAPTER XXIL

At Copang.— Meet the captain of the New Bedford whale-ship
Phoenix.— Copang celebrated for the hospitalities shown Lieot.
Bllgh and his companions on their remarkable open-boat voy-
age, forty-seven days out, sailed 8,600 miles, the work of mntln-
eers,(«ee Chap. XII).— Obtain water.— Monkeys.— Description of
Oopang and the Island.- Poultry and vegetables plenty.— Ma-
lays piratical.— To "run a-muck.*'

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CONTENTS. 19

CHAPTER XXIII.

A4iefierter ftom the Phoenix on board.— Taken back,— Despervte

case.— Depart ftrom Copang.— Indian Ocean.— Java Head.— 8al-

■ lors' sports on board.— Furious squall.— Ship down on her broad-

[ride, fearfully.- Rain in torrents.— Elanakas useless in the rlg^

■•■ ging.— A toilsome night.— A Kanaka foils through a hatchway.

' twenty feet, strikes his head on an anchor, knocking off a bit

of scalp only.— How thick his skull?— Had he any brains?

CHAPTER XXIV.

Flpetftil weather.- A chafing, vexing, wearying morning, after a

laborious night.- A whirlwind and waterspouts endanger th«

ship.— "There seemed no possibility of escape."-" The Unseen

' i^and was again stretched out."— The appalling danger oveiv

' balanced by the awful sublimity of the scene.— Reach the Bay of

Bengal.— Monstrous turtles.—" A Paddy's box of snakes."— The

• monkeys on board imitate themen.— Enter the Hoogly.— Reach

Calcutta.— Oppressive atmosphere.— A gang of Lascars employ-

• ed to do duty on board.— The Hindoo abominates swine's flesh

equal to the JRw.— They live on rice.— Not equal in strength to

the sailors.— The Hoogly the chief, or largest mouth ol ih*

Ganges.- Description.— Dead bodies on the river.

CHAPTER XXV.

•till at Oalcatta, called the " City of Palaces," as properly the "City
of Mud Huts."— Dining with the American Co'sul, chickens,
rice and ct^rry.— Our Author tries it and thinks it " »ome."— His
health fails in this climate.— The Doctor has "a round" with a
Kanaka, who is put in irons, the captain arrives in time to
save a fight with all the Kanakas.- The Kanaka dies of fever.
—All the other Kanakas, except one, run off, giving much Joy In
' the ship.— A Hindoo sharper.— Mate discharged.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Bun at Calcutta.— Another mate discharged for drunkenness.—
- Jugglers.— "See snakee dance. "—Religious holidays.— The car-
go all on board.— Departure from Calcutta.— Another drunken
mate.— Off Sangor Island New Year's Day, 1851.— " Splicing the
main brace."— New crew, mostly Scotchmen.— After getting to
'. sea the Author's health recruits again.— Feb. 17, off Madagascar.
—Cape of Gtood Hope not, as generally supposed, the most
Bouthem point of Africa.— Cape LaguUus 29 miles south of It.

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14 OaNTBKTS.

CHAPTER XXVII.

PaM the Cape of Oocd Hope, called by Capt Diaz, Oabo Tbrmenftwo,
the Cape of Storms.— Comparison with Cape Horn.— Smooth
•alllDg.— Ei^ry sail set •'alow andaloft."—*YarDing and caulk-
ing. "—St. Helena In sight, March 18.— Anchor off Jamestown,
before snnset.— The Island narrow but lofty.— Jamestown,
Ladder Hill and High Knoll make a two 9tory monntain,in the
rear, over 2.000 feet high.— Diana's Peak 2,700.— Fortifications,
etc. -Good mackerel fishing at the Island.— Fresh mackerel
better than salt beef.— The discovery of the Island, 1501.— De-
scription.— Many vessels at the Island.— Sail in company with
a whaler, the Corinthian.— A dangerous squall and a sleepy
mate.— The " Sargasso Sea," again.— Pass the Azores.— Becalmed
near an Bngllsh brig.— Receive the first information of the
Crystal Palace at London, and the high expectations of it. —
*'• Good," exclaim all hands, *' we shall be there Just in the right
time."— Reach the English Channel in the night.— Meet an Eng-
lish brigand enquire, "What light?"— Answer, **The Heddy-
jtonc."- ** What timeof tide?"— *"igh water," is answered.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Arrival at London.— Custom-House oflicers short of pocket hand-
kerchiefs, so they take the " Doctor's," bought for Mrs. Brown,
In Calcutta.— Ship discharges cargo, and loads with iron and
chalk for Boston.— Walk outside of London.— Run down the
Straits of Dover.— •• The White Cllffls of Albion."— Tornado on
the land while off Medford, Waltham and West Cambridge.—
A Dutch sailor thinks " De blixen ! Mein Gtott, I dinks de end
of de world pe come !"— A quick run to Boston,— The *» Good-
byes."— The Author's '• best bow."

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REMINISCElSrOES

VOYAGE AROUNDT THE WORLD.

CHAPTER L

AT BATH.

OT " Ba— ath,'' in old England, the home of
Beau Nash, the **Aqn8B Soils'* — ^waters of
the Sun— of the Romans, to which place "Angelo
Cyrus Bantum, Esq., M. C.,'* welcomed Mr. Pickwick
go cordially, but a more youthful city, Bath on the
River Kennebec, in new England, a city whose ships
navigate every sea, and every other one of whose
inhabitants is a captain or a mate.

Thither, to join the ship Hampton, my brother
and myself, one morning early in August, 1849,
sailed from our home at the mouth of the Georges
Kver, in a little centre-board sloop, bearing the eu-
phonle name of ^' Horse and Buggy." An uncle and
a cousin were with us, who were charged with our
safe delivery.

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18 BBlONISCEKCnES OF ▲

There was a fresh breeze from the North, and
the little sloop, carrying a huge " bone in her mouth,'*
soon rounded Pemmaquid Point, and then my uncle,
who was pilot, and a veritabfe Palinnrup, by the
■way, hauled his wind, and skirting the breakers on
Thrum Cap, ran over to the eastern entrance to
Town send Thorough fai%. Prom thence, our way was
through a devious inland passage.

Sometimes we would run, with sheet off, down
a narrow strait, a salt marsh within toss of a bis-
cuit, on either hand, and then suddenly dart out
into a broad bay where fleets might mancenvre.

Having crossed this, our course would change,
and we would beat through another strait, equally
as narrow as the former one, but with high, rocky
banks, covered with huckleberry bushes. Through
this the tide would be running with us, like the
sluice-way of a mill, and the " Horse and Buggy ^
would forereach as she went in stays, like an arrow
shot from a bow.

Under all circumstances we made good progress,
and the sun was hardly set when we entered the
Kennebec, opposite Bath, and saw the white ports
of the Hampton across the river.

The Hampton was a new ship, registering 44S
tons, old tonnage, and built that summer at Rich-
mond, a few miles above Bath, on the river. She

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Y0TA6X ABOtrND THE WOBLD. 19

was advertised, of course, and the advertisement
ran like this:

"FOR SAN FRANCISCX).— The Letter A, No, 1, coppered, oop-

per-fiifltened, and fast-sailing ship Hampton, Master, will

have immediate dispatch, as above.

"For freight, or passage, apply Immediately, Ac., Ac."

This adverUsement was not incorrect above all
others, yet I can see where it was open to criticism.
Canvass had never been spread upon the ship. How
conld it be known, then, that she was fast-sailing?
And I wonder if the bolts nsed in fastening a ship
are all counted, and if it is only when the copper
ones far outnumber the iron ones, that the ship is
said to be copper-festened ? But what are adver-
tisements fori

Tho ship was receiving lumber for her cargo.
To carry lumber to San Francisco now would be
** carrying coals to Newcastle," but it was not so
then, and enormous freights were paid.

The lading of the ship went briskly on, but not
carelessly, for I never saw space so economized any-
where, before or since. Bunches of shingles were
opened, and wherever one could be driven, there
one was put. I did not play a very important part
in anything. An anecdote will explain my status.

One day a second mate was shipped and entered
upon his duties. After examining the condition of
tilings aloft, he concluded to have the masts slushed

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20 ItEMTNISCfilfCBB OF A

down.* At that moment I was tbe only availablt
person in sight. He therefore ordered me to take a
slush backet, go up to the main royal mast, and give
that, and the topgallant mast and topmnst, a coat of
grease. I complied so far as to take a backet and
climb up into the topmast crosstre^s. Further I
could not go. It was in vain that I twisted my
legs aroand the rigging and exerted all my strength
to ascend. Although only thii*teen years of age, I
was nearly six feet in height, and my frame was
large and heavy. But on account of severe injnries
received in the chest, my strength was at that time
inversely as the length of my limbs and the size of
my body. After several vain efforts, I made the
backet fast to the rigging, and descended.

" Well ?" said the officer^ enquiringly, as I step-
ped apon the deck.

" I made the bucket fast,*' I answered, glancing
aloft at it. "I couldn't get clear np."

" You eouldn^ty hey ?" he said, in a tone in which
wrath was very perceptible. '*Well, yon just try
it again. **

" I shan't," I answered, " for it's no use."

"You shanH^'* he roared, looking at me from
head to foot, with anger and cariosity in his eyes.
**Look here, my lad, men don't say shanH when
theyVe afloat. I shall report your case to tiio
captain."

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« Wdl," I answered, "I don't think father would
send me where I couldn't go."

"W*h-e-wl" He gave a prolonged whistle, and
€(}a<mlating, " So you're the captain's son, are you ?*'
turned on his heel and left me.

i was the eaptahi's son. Therefore, being the
*^ ship's cousin," as the captain's relatives are termed
afloat, sod m a measure an invalid, I was privileged
to be in the way a great deal, but not obliged to
work much. And it realty gave me opportunities for
observation that I could not otherwise have possenBed.

I have already intimated that we were bound'
fbx Sail FIrancisco. And this was not a solitary
instance of a vessel loading for that port All idong
our Atlantic sea-board, from Calais to Hew Orleans^
every description <^ navigation was up for that same
destination.

The old idea that had so long obtained, that
none but the stoutest ships could round Cape Hom^
was oast to the winds. Stout ships, indeed, there
were, and many of them, preparing for the voyage.
But there were others of a very different charaoter
— ^Id, and unsound in hull and spars — that were
eagerly purchased, or chartered. Freight and pas*
sengers poured into them, and when all was ready,
their prows were poiated southward, and they were
urged along by all the methods that the ingenuity
of man could devise.

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And the modern coaster, that all her days had
been contented to hag the coast along, never aspir-
ing to foreign voyages, or the nnbonnded sea, was
suddenly launched upon this river of commotion,
whose only issue was the route to California. PorUi-
with her wordiy skipper reached from its shelf his
long neglected Bowditch's Epitome, brushed from
its covers the accumulated dust, and, out of its in-
estimable contents, renewed his navigation. Forth
from its box he took his ancient quadrant; along
the graduated scale moved the index, and squinted
again through its ample sight vanes.

Good-bye to green water, nightly harbors, and
the ever recurring course from headland to head-
land. Hail to the blue, unsounded sea, a constant
course, and Ophir — mirdy Ophir'-^for a destination.

In this fast age, the discovery of gold in Cal-
ifomia has become an antiquated event. But no
event, at all recent, save the great Rebellion, has
so thrilled the nation, or led to greater results.

Wealth and Adventure — ^why, these two eom-
bined are irresistible — irresistible to care-worn man-
hood, irresistible to dreamy youth I History records
the triumphs of this temptation, and the instances
are countless.

Now, its peculiar features were slightly changed.
It was not the coin of any realm, nor the barbario
ornaments of either India. In no wise was it in

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TOTAOX ASOXnffD THS WOBLD. 28

the inyentorj of " Mm Killmansegg with tbe Pre-
oions Leg" — not

« gold-.

Molten, grayen, hammered and roUed,"

but it was virgin ore, dost in the dust, and veins
in the rock.

Who does not know how it was found ? On
the wings of the wind the tale flew eastward. As
when the news of Lexington and Concord passed
along the land, men suspended their labors, so now,
when this tale of wealth ran from house to house,
rolling like a subtile vapor up over moimtains, and
down into valleys, men paused from their occu-
pations.

It was whispered in the room of the manu-
fiskcturer, and that whisper was heard above the
whirring of belt and the jarring of wheels ; and the
sounds ceased, for the tale was seductive and the
manu&cturer was seduced away.

The midnight air, as it floated through the dark
streets of great cities, and eddied in and out of their
subterranean dens, breathed the tale. And discord-
ant music ceased, and unsightly dances ended. The
inebriate forgot his full cup, and the murderer turned
with bloodless knife from the clutched throat of his
victim. The tale was seductive and they were se*
duced away.

The morning paper published the discovery, and

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24 BsicrniscBKCBs or ▲

A6 pftle clerk laid down hia yard-6tiok, and tha
book-keeper closed his books. Lawyers oast Black-
stone and Kent to dust and oblivion, and the sons
of Esculapius compounded pills no more.

The weekly paper rehearsed the story of the
daily. Mate grew the fisherman's fog horns by the
shores of Maine, and on the land the iences fell un-
heeded, and where strong men had labored, childreil
Wrought their childish task. Around many doors
l&e weeds, nntrod, grew rank and tall, and within
no lire warmed the cold hearths.

Oh ! the tide was seductive, and many men were
fieduoed away.

Across the Atlantic they came, too, from the old
world, men in whom, by reason of oppression, hope
was dead, yet avarice survived.

Many keels disturbed the waters of the Padfio,
ril pointing toward the Golden Gate. And the ships
bjre convicts from New South Wales, Lascars from
India, and Chinese fixnn tlie Celestial Empire.

How they thronged to the Land of Gold — aH
races, creeds and colors, the generous, the noble^
the sordid and the mean.

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TOTACOB ABOinfB TBM WOBLD.

CHAPTER n.

8EA-SICKNSSS.

^HEN our state of preparation would admit
I of its being done with any degree of ceis
tfunty, a day was fixed for sailing. It was the eighth
day of September. And on that day, at 3 p. ic, the
ahip, having on board, besides a cargo of lumber, a
large quantity of water, provisions, spare sails, spars,
rigging, Ac, was attached to a steam tug, and her
head turned down stream. As she swung round,
the crowd on the wharf gave three cheers. Seventy
throats on board responded. Thus we left home.

At six p. M. we passed > Pond Island, at the
mouth of the river, and half-an-hour later, just out-
side of Jack Knife X^edge, the tug cast us off, took
out the pilot, and returned to the river. There was
a moderate breeze from the north-west, but an
old sea was heaving in heavily from the south, over
the shoal ground. Against this, the ship under her
courses, topsails, and topgallant sails, went reasing
and plunging seaward.

Heartsick, homesick, and $eQr$icky I st^od u|^qp

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26 BlEMimsdKNCBfl 0V A

the deck and watched the dusky ontlines of the
coast The sound of the supper-bell, however, soon
interrupted my melancholy observations, and I was
requested to go below and assist the steward in
waiting upon the tables. I complied, but before I
had passed many cups of tea, I received an internal
evidence that something was about to occur, for
which I should be better prepared on deck, with
my head over the rail, than anywhere else, and I
lefk immediately, without apology or explanation,
and put my head there.

On board a mackerel-catcher, a person engaged
as I then was, is said to be ^throwing tolV i. e.
scattering finely-cut bait to attract the fish. The
witticisms of fishermen are often more broad than
deep, but there is, perhaps, analogy enough in this
case to base the facetiousness upon.

It is also said that persons thus engaged, are
heard to cry from the very depths of their being,
^^Europe^'* as if that, forsooth, were the only con-
tinent of the old world, or, indeed, of both worlds.

I admit, after reflection, that there is some ground
for this report.

And now that I have introduced the subject of
sea-siokness, I will master all my fortitude and go
through with it All my fortitude, I say, for when
I remember in what a rough-shod maimer that de-

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YOYAOB ABOtTND THE WOBLD. 27

testable disease has ridden oyer me, first and last,
I ECtnally shrink.

A sea-sick man is like a man with the tooth-
ache — ^no, that is not juet what I mean, for the lat-
ter is generally as cross as a starring bear, while
the former is very mild and snbdtied. What I mean
M that neither gets any sympathy from anybody.
Neither, in the popular mind, is it a sickness which is
nnto death.

This view in regard to sea-sickness, is, however,
by many physicians, considered a popular error.

Dr. Biuicer, of Bellevne Hospital Medical Col-
lege, New York City, in writing upon the subject,
giyes three instances of parties known to him, who
died from the effects of sea-sickness, and in a yery
short space of time. And he relates that others
have been so prostrated while crossing the Atlantic,
that, after landing, weeks elapsed before they were
able to go out.

My own experience convinces me that sea-sickness
is often injurious to the general health of an in-
dividual, though I never knew it to result in death.
The popular idea on the subject, however, is that
it is never injurious, but often beneficial, and it will
be long before that idea is abandoned.

Sea-sickness is one of the ills erf* life to which all
flesh is not heir. Many seamen have never felt any
symptoms of it.

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28 JEUPOKISeBKCSS OV A

Dr. Barker, to whcwn I have referred, «ay8: "1
myself am exempt from the slightest tendency to
thift affliction^ but on the contrary, feel at sea an
exhilaration of mind, and an elasticity of body vrbich,
I do not feel on shore,"

And the disease affects differ^itly t^ose suffering
from it. Some are violently sick for a short time,
aiid tiien recover fully. Others never become very
sick, bat an indescribable nansea pervades them for
a long time.

It is the general impression that sea-ndraess
cannot be prevented, mitigated or cored by med*
ical art

Dr. Barker is of a different opinion, howerer.
After stating that the centre of a vessel, because tiie
motion is less there, is the best place to locate in,
he gives the following directions:

1. Have every preparation made at least twenty-
four hours before starting, so that the syvtem may
not be exhausted by overwork and want of sleep.
This direction is particularly important for ladies.

2. Eat as hearty a meal as possible before going
on board.

8. Go on board sufficiently early to arrange SQch
things as may be wanted for the first day or two,
so diat tbey may be easy of access; ^en.nodresa
^nd go to bed before the vessel geta under way.

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TOYAGS ABO0NP THB WOBLD. 29

The .neglect of this rale, by those who iu*e liable to
sea-sickness, is sure to be regretted.

4. Eat regularly and heartily, bat without raising
the head, for at least one or two days. In this
way the habit of digestion is kept up, the strength
is preserved, while the system becomes accustomed
to the constant change of equilibrium.

5. On the first night out, take some mild laxative
pills, as for example, two or three of the compound
rhubarb pills.

6. After having become so far habituated to the
sea as to be able to take your meals at the table,
and to go on deck, never think of rising in the
morning until you have eaten something, as a plate
of oatmeal porridge, or a cup of coffee or tea, with
sea-biscuit or toast

7. I^ subsequently, during the voyage, the sea
should become unusually rough, go to bed before
getting sick. It is foolish to dare anything when
tbere is no glory to be won, and something may
be lost.

Such are the Doctor's preventives. I need hardly
point out that he can refer only to passengers, A
sefiman^s lodgings are generally at one eoUremity of
the ship, and his sphere of action is bomided hor*
izontally, by the ends of the flying jib and spanker
booms, and perpendicularly by the kelson and the
main truck. As for 'Agoing to bed^^ be n&ocr does

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so ICBHIKISCBNCBS OF ▲

that. When it is his watch below, he turns in.
Little allowance is made for sea-sickness before the
mast.

But, my yonng friends, if your horoscopes hare
been cast, and there are sea voyages before you,
just preserve these directions of an experienced phy-
sician and practical man, and practice them when
you embark, and you may thereby avoid a great deal
of genuine suffering.

May avoid mind it, for the Doctor, even, does not
promise perfect exemption. And I think even a
mitigation doubtful in many cases. It has been
proved in some diseases that the medicine that is
an antidote for one man, is a bane for another. In-
deed, I have been told by an intelligent physician,
that there is but one disease, in all the multitude
of diseases, for which a specific remedy is known,
and that disease is the itch.

For the consolation of any of my young readersi
who may contemplate " a life on the ocean wave, and a
home on the rolling deep,'^ I will say, that, although
Dr. Barker has not prescribed for them, or rather
they cannot avail themselves of his prescriptions,
they will always find those afloat who will be de-
lighted to prescribe for them.

Among these, the disciples of the old school of
medicine usually recommend a piece of salt pork
with a rope yam attached, which the oatient is re-

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Y0TA03B ABOUKD THX WORLD. 31

qaired to swallow and draw up again, repeatedly.
I once knew a poor simpleton to make use of this
remedy. Of coarse it contributed more to the
amusement of the beholders than to the patient's
core.

If the sufferer does not use tobacco, a quid of
that delectable stuff is sometimes administered in-
stead of the pork, and the directions in this case
are, to chew vigorously and swallow the juice.

The forecastle, however, sometimes contains a
Hydropathic practitioner He, of course, prescribes
a cold bath, and this is giyen by reeving a whip at
die end of the fore-yard, one end of which is se-
curely fastened about the patient's ankles, while the
other is manned by sympathizing friends. At a

given word, he is run up, swung off over the rail, and

«
dropped into the sea. One immersion is usually

held to be sufficient for a cure, but sometimes, when

the case is an obstinate one, the patient is bowsed

up a little way, and dropped a second time.

It is a cruel joke, and not often perpetrated.

There is one phase of sea-sickness that I would
not overlook, and which is universally considered
dangerous, viz. : when it produces constipation. Or-
dinary remedies often fail in such instances to move
the bowels.

An aggravated case of this kind came to my
knowledge, and I will give the remedy which was

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92 BSunnscBNcxs of a

at length effectual. It is always arailaMo on ship-
board, and is considered equal to any case. Take
half a pint of slush (grease), a pint of salt water,
and a- pint of molasses, and boil them thoroughly
together. A dose — as much as the patient can
possibly drink.

The case of which I have a knowledge was this*
A brig sailed from New York to Liverpool. The
cook was sea-sick— not severely so— but enoegfa to
produce constipation of the bowels. The eathartie
contents of the medicihe chest were exhausted upoB
him, without effect Weeks passed on. His sensa-
tions were terrible, and the skin o£ his fkce grew
red, until he was of the complexion of a boiled lob-
ster. A knowledge of the mess I have described
above was stowed away among the. recollections of
the mate. In this emergency it occurred to hinu
He promptly communicated it to the captain, and
offered to prepare it, if he (the captain,) would ad-
minister it He readily promised, and it wits pre*
pared. But so disgusting was it, that the sick maa
vowed he would die before he would swallow it
The captain was equal to the emergency. He pre-
sented the tin pot of liquid with one hand, and a
rope's end with the other, and gave the cook his
choice in these terms: **Take it noio, or Fll rope's
end ye within an inch of your life, and poor it Sowi
your throat afterwards. **

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roT^oi: abottki^ the world. 83

The cook took it, and it removed the difficulty.

My advice — advice drawn from experience and
observation — ^to any one who ships to do duty on
ship-board, and is sea-sick, is, to keep up a stout
hearty and do as nearly as possible, just what he would
do if well. Do you say that you already know
that a stout heart is good under all circumstances ?
Then let me confirm you in that knowledge.

Young finends, when you leave home and rela-
tives to go out into the world, whether the heaving
sea lies beneath your feet, or the firm set earth,
pray God for a stout heart. Stout to resist loneU-
nesa, hardship, pain, scorn, and adversity — and no
less stout to meet temptation in its alluring dis*
guises, and the fascinating influences that would lead
you from the path of virtue and honor.

But, all this time I have left myself with my
head over the rail. Well, it was there quite as long.

After a while, spiritless and stupefied, I crept
into my berth. In the darkness my eyes could ^
upon no objects, and by degrees my ears failed to
catch the dashing of the water and the creaking of
the blocks. Gradually I became insensible, and
slept a restless, nnrefireshing sleep. In the morning
I awoke to a day of like miserable existence. And
•o I endured for a week. Then the end came. Oh,
H was a long and cruel initiation I

I came out of it weak, thin, and pale. WiA

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84 BBHINISOSNCBS OF A

hard sidt beef and flinty sea-biiicaits I lined mj on
steady ribs. Never did the daintiest food taste so
well My long abstinence had ground my appetite,
and the healthy, bracing air of the sea whetted it
to a perfect edge.

They only who have been sea-sick, can properly
appreciate sea-sickness. It cannot be perfectly de-
scribed. It is not, in the general ^nse of the term,
anguish, but it takes away the strength and manli-
ness of a man.

A sense of nausea pervades him. He lies down.
Action is the most obnoxious of things to him. He
would hardly struggle to save his life.

When I had regained strength and animaljion,
and had slept sweetly and soundly, I looked around
me and beheld a new existence.

A blue sky, flecked with a few cbuds, came
down and met the sea. Against it blue Waves leaped
joyously out of the bosom of the blue sea. The
great bright sun shone down. The wind swept
cheerily by, and the ship, seemingly free and joyous,
like all around her, drove swiftly along the waves.

How my heart was lifted up and expanded!
What a sense of freedom and joy pervaded my
whole being. I felt an impulse to clap my handa
and leap like the waves.

There was no sense of loneliness, though^ save
a consciousness of the presence of God, we were

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YOTAOa ABOXmD TfiS WOBLD. 85

solitary and alone. He— who is both the mythical
Jove and the mythical Neptune — can fill space with
His presence, and people it with images of His
power and glory. He is a cord connecting in the
mind the past, the present, and all time to come.
On Him the trusting heart leans daily, and to Him
the eye of faith is constantly directed. If we go
back to our cradles and our mother's arms, all the
past speaks of Him — and if we tell our hopes of the
futare, we humbly add, " Providence permitting.**

We would not for worlds lose this consciousness
of His presence — we could not if we would.

** Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither
shall I flee from thy presence?

^ If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if
I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there.

** If I take the wings of the morning and dwell
in the tUtermost parts of the sea^ even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."

My dear reader, if you have an Atlas convenient,
just take it, please, and open to the map of North
America. Near the north-eastern extremity of the
United States, you will be likely to see a delinea-
tion, longer or shorter, of the River Kenebec. . Place
the end of your pencil upon the mouth of the river,
and then move it in a south-easterly direction, until
you reach the straight line running across the map
that indicates the fortieth parallel of north latitude.
Is there anything peculiarly interesting in this locality ?

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M KKMXSJBCSSCEB OW A

CHAPTER III.

THB GULF STREAM.

OW was the question at the end of the last
I chapter answered ? The locality I designated
is decidedly an interesting one. It is in the midst
of the Gulf Stream. And what is that? It is a
rapid river in the ocean, with banks of water, and
a bed of water, and yet none the less emphatically
a river. We can describe it just as any other river.
It rises in the Gulf of Mexico, runs in a north-
easterly direction with a constantly widening chan-
nel afHd decreasing velocity, until, from a vast mouth,
quuimng almost the western coast of Europe, it
empties northerly into the Arctic Ocean, to the east
of Greenland, and southerly into the Bay of Biscay,
reaching even, as a distinctive current, the Azores
and Canaries.

What makes this Gulf Stream, or river, do you
ask? Ah, who shall tell? He knows who <' an-
swered Job out of the whirlwind, and said * * *
Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or

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VOTAOS AKOUND TH8 WOBLD. Bf

hsLSi thou walked in the search of the depth?" Aiiid
He alone knows.

But there are many theories about it. Each
theory probably satisfied its author and his admirers,
Hmt not the authors of other theories, or their ad-
mirers.

It was in this mjyestic ciceanic river that we
&und ourselves after a few days' sail from Bath.
Its waters were of a deep and glorious blue^ which
is a characteristic of this stream, particularly near
its source. And another characteristic was also
quite perceptible — a shorter and sharper sea. My
interest in anything was not excessive at this time,
on account oi causes detailed in the proceeding
chapter. But despite all untoward circumstances,
the scene impressed me deeply, having been all my
life accustomed to green water and a circumscribed
horizon.

The Gulf Stream I have said originates ia the
Gulf of Mexico. Cast your eyes again upon the
map. Between the Peninsula of Florida and the
Bahama group of the West India Islands, you be*
hold a narrow channel of clear water. Up this the
Gulf Stream pours impetuously. Its width here is
ihirty-two miles, its depth three hundred and seventy
£ithom8, and its velocity between four and five
miles per hour. And here its color is of an intense
indigo blue. Its limits, or borders, are so distinct,

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88 SSMINISOXKCSS Of* A

on this account, tbat on sailing into it, one can
readily tell when the vessel enters it, when she is
half way into it, and when she is quite into it.

Off Gape Hatteras, in North Carolina, its width
is seyenty-five miles, and its velocity three miles
per hour. Off the Grand Banks, away up to New-
foundland, its course becomes more easterly than
formerly, hut there has been all along, the same
widening of its channel, and diminishing of its ve-
locity, that was observable before.

Besides its current and its color, the Gulf Stream
possesses another peculiarity of more consequenee
than these. Its waters are very warm — ^possess a
very high temperature. In the channel between
Florida and the Bahamas, its temperature is nine
degrees higher than that of the water that forms
its banks. When it reaches the Grand Banks it is
still six degi-ees warmer.

Dr. Franklin, who was first to discover the trac-
tability of lightening, and also the first to enunciate
the great truth, that " God governs in the affiiirs of
nations,'' was first to call public attention to this
wonderful phenomena.

It happened in this wise: When Franklin was
in London, in 1770, he was consulted in regard to
a memorial which the Board of Customs at Boston,
hi»d sent to the Lords of the Treasury, stating that
the King's packets from Falmouth were generally

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TOTAaX ABOUITD TSB Tf OBLD. 39

two weeks lonia^r makmg the passage from Falmoath
to Boston, than were the common traders in gomg
from Londcm to Proyidence, B. L They therefore
ukei that Hie Falmouth packets be sent to Provi-
dence instead qf Boston.

As the distance was not a little less between Fal«
mouth and Boston than betwe^i London and Provi-
dence, the Doctor was surprised; but he was un-
willing to admit, without some investigation, ** that
the longest way round was the shortest way home.''
In poshing his inquiries, he consulted Capt. Folger,
a Kantucket Whaler, who was alho in London at
this time.

The Captain readily explained that the difference
in the passage arose from this fact. The Rhode
Island captains were acquainted with the Oulf
Stream, and kept out of it, while the captains of
the King's packets, knowing nothing about it, kept
in it, and were set back about fifty miles a day.
Oapt. Folger had become acquainted with it while
m the pursuit of whales. These animids (what say,
boys, is a whale an animal or a Jhh^ or both, or
neither?) were found on both sides of the warm
enrrent, but never in it.

Of course, the Doctor, having found a due, made
a determined effort to follow it up, and penetrate, if
powible, the penetralia of nature.

Wb theory of the production of die GKdf Stream

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40 looiiinflCWfrcxfl or a

I mO. give by and by. Of the remainder mf hh
labors it is siiflloie«t to say here, that be ^lUedpmb-
lio attention pretty thoroughly to the facts he bad
learned. And public aUention has neyer ceaaed to
be giyen to this interesting subject

Having had their attention called to it so long,
have men discovered i^y utUity, any bon^oent pugr-
pose, in this Gulf Stream ?

TMa fact has become apparent If there were
not some agent to carry <^ much of the heat gen-
erated in that great basin of which the Gidf <>f
Mexico is the bottom, it would be %o great lui tp
make this region the hottest, and most pestilential
in the world. The Gulf Stream is such an agents
and surdy here is beneficence uid ulility as w^

Having blessed the dwellers at its source, has it
any blessings for those who dweU at its mouth?

Open the Atlas again. Our latitude is about i^®
North. Turn to the map of Europe and find the
parallel there. Ton see it crosses Northern ^Miiii
and the South of France. Will our olimAte com-
pare in nuldness with the climate of those conntrieaf
No, truly. Why? Wait a nioment

Great Britain and Ireland may be said to lie ii^
the fifty-third degree of north latitude, as that par-
allel crosses nearly in tbe centre of eaclu l^pw^
how does our climate compare with that of Qx09t
Britain and Ireland, eleven degrees £»rther n^th ?

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TOTAAX JOmUMB TBB WOBLX>. 41

It ia colder. To wiiat thiU we aittribitte tUs re-
markable differenoe? To the Gtdf Staream, far u>0
know that it is the caute. The west wind, wbich
14 the preTaUing one, blowing across its surface,
bears its warm exhalations over these lands; and
against the shores of these lands its warm current
is also impelled. Its influence does not end here,
but may be traced along the west coast of Norway,
and far up where Spitzbergen lieB, at the threshold
of perpetual ice.

How wonderful ! These lands warmed in winter
by a furnace placed in the Gulf of Mexico, and the
heat sent through a pipe thousands of miles long.
But for this provision of nature, Great Britain would
be as bleak, as inhospitable, and as uninhabitable
as Labrador, to which it corresponds in latitude.

But are the benefits of the Gulf Stream confined
to its extremities? No. Vessels bound to New
Tork, and ports of New England, in winter, meet
with severe cold, and terrible gales off the coast.
And when hugging the frosty hurricanes, off these
ports of destination, tiiey beoome unmanageable,
from the ice l^at accumulates in masses on every-
thing, is it not a benefit to hare these warm waters
right under the lee? In this place of refuge the
ice will quickly disappear, and chilled and stiffened
ingers g|row warm and limber again* There is sum-
mer heat in the Oulf Stream in the dead of winter.

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42 BSHOnOiOBVGaft ov ▲

There the weather worn mariner may refit his
vessel, and recruit his energies for another trial

Do vessels take advantage of this provision of
Providence ? As a matter of coarse. Without the
Gulf Stream the coast would not be navigable in
winter.

Two years ago I conversed with a ship-master
who had just arrived in Boston from New Orleans.
Four times, he said, he was inside of Cape Cod,
and each time encountered weather that compelled
him to put his helm up, and with his ship's waist
full of ice, and every rope as big as his leg, run
back into the Gulf Stream and thaw out He said
it was a great relief to him when he got into port,
a statement to which, after what he had told me,
I was prepared to give full credit.

In other respects the Gulf Stream benefits the
mariner. Its presence indicates to him that he has
approached the coast; and by keeping in it when
bound to the eastward, he can make greater progress.

And now we will view this accommodating
stream in another character — one in which it acoom«
plishes results that are at the same time very ben-
eficial to the mariner, and very interesting to ail
classes of society.

Tou know that King Cold, from his ext^isive
dock-yards, away up north, is constantly dispatch*

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TOTAQB ABOUND THE TfORLD. 4S

ing his annadas of icebergs down to the portions of
the Atlantic sacred to commerce.

Men coold not contend with these, and could
they pass the limits to which they are now con-
fined, they would sweep the seas of warlike and
peaceiiil navies alike.

Now who has confined them to certain limits ?
Who comes to the rescue of the race here? It is
'King Heat, the eternal enemy of King Cold, with
whom he has warred, with varying success, since
the beginning of time. From his throne in the Gulf
of Mexico, he saw the peril of man, and poured
^ the warm waters of the Gulf Stream up the coast.
They meet the cold currents of the North, and the
ice squadrons of King Gold, off Newfoundland, and
there has been the battle*field.

Do you ask me where are the wrecks of battle
that strew this mighty field? Behold them — the
Cfrand Banks of Newfoundland I

The Grand Banks are the deposits of the Gulf
Stream, and the icebergs jointly. The former, on
account of the chilly currents from the north, de-
posits here the infusoria and corpses of living things
brought forth in its warm waters. The latter, melt-
ed by the warm current from the south, deposit
here their loads of stone and earth, torn off from
the Arctic continent.
It is wonderful!

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44 BBICIKISOSKCXS OV ▲

Now if all these faets impress yoa as they ought,
yon will ask if there are the same evidences of the
Creator's wisdom here, that are obserrable in His
other works.

There is this fact about, the Golf Stream that is
very striking and beaatiful. One of its offices is to
convey heat from the Gulf region to the cold re-
gions of the north. Earth is a good condneti^ af
heat, and did this stream in any part of its eonrse
touch the crust of the earth, much of the heat would
be conducted ofL But it nowhere does. Though
flowing near the land on one side, and near the
bottom of the soa in one part of its course, it is
everywhere protected from contact by cui^ons of'
cold water, an excellent non-conductor of heat.

Now a few words conc^ning the theories by
which the flow of the Gulf Stream is accounted for.
One has been fairly demolished, and I will refer to
that first. It was that ^e Mississippi River pro-
duced the Gulf Stream. The two following facta
overthrew this theory.

1. The Gulf Stream discharges from the Gulf of
Meuco three thousand times as much water as the
Mississippi pours into it.

2. The Mississippi is fresh^ while the Gidf Stream
is eaBcesHvefy salt.

There are other theories which. cannot be said
to be fairly demolished. It is held by seme mow.

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TOTAQS JlBOVKD THU WOBLD. iS

and was held by many once, that the daily motion
of the earth on its axis, caases a rotary motion of
the waters upon it from east to west. Every boy
who has turned a grindstone that had water poured
upon it, knows how this is. The shape of the South
American coast forced vast volumes of this moving
water into the Gulf of Mexico between that conti-
nent and Cuba. The issue of this water, in a con-
trary direction, is the Gulf Stream.

Dr. Franklin, however, and many other scientific
men with him, held that the Gulf Stream is the
escape, firom the Gulf of Mexico, of water forced
into it by the trade winds. Of these trade winds I
shall have occasion to speak hereafter. The two
theories agree upon a head of water in the Gulf as
the cause of the stream, but do not agree as to
how that head of water came there.

Lieut. Maury lays down this theorem — " The dy-
namical force (that is, the force of water in motion)
that calls forth the Gulf Stream, is found in the
difference, as to specific gravity, of intertropical and
polar waters."

Do you understand this ? If I do, it means this :
The extremes of polar cold, and equatorial heat, so
act npon the waters subject to their infiuenoe as to
disturb their equibibriura. It is a law of water,
that when its equilibrium is disturbed, it will not
rest TWtil it is restored. Now here are two agents

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46 BBMINISCENCBS OF A

continnally disturbing the eqnilibrinm of the great
body of water on the globe, and an inexorable war
as constantly compelling a restoration of that eqai-
librinm. What is the result ? Oceanic carrents, of
course^ and one of them, Manry says, is the Golf
Stream.

It is a great subject, worthy of study, and re-
papng study. It will stand any amount of dis-
cussion, and it receives any amount of it.

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TOTAOX ABOITKD THB WORLD. 4t

CHAPTER IV.

CONCBBKINa THE SHIP, HBB CBEW, AND SOMBTHINa
CONCBBKING SBA USAGES.

T the lime of which I write, a ship of fiye
humdred tons belonged rather to the largest
class of ships than to the smallest. Seven hundred
tons for a merchant ship, was quite large, one
thousand tons monstrous, and a ship of twelve hun-
dred tons seemed a perfect leviathan.

At the present time a ship of seven hundred
tons is small, one of two thousand tons not extremely
large, and very many reach a number above three
thousand.

The gigantic, not only in living creatures, but
also in things, compels our admiration. We may,
indeed, pay the same amount of money to see Tom
Thumb thf^t #e would pay to see the Belgian Giant,
but tben the admission fee don't determine our im-
pressions at all. There is no object — seamen think
so at all events, and always will — that more deeply
impresses a beholder than one of these monster,
modem ships, fully rigged, whether under sail, or

w

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49 BCHXNISOXVOXft OV A,

with caDTass furled. To a landsmaii the raaze of
rigging is perfectly bewildering — a labyrinth to
which he can discover no clue.

A friend once told me that he was one day
standing on a wharf in Baltimore, at the end of
which lay a very large ship, discharging a cargo of
guano, which she had brought from the Ghincha
Islands. While there he observed a man, evidently
a countryman, come slowly down the wharf, look-
mg CM'eleBB^ to right and left He was quite near
the ship before his eyea seemed to rest fairly
npon her.

Then he approached still nearer, and looked
skywly from end to end of the vast hull, his eyes
examining curiously the enormous channels of the
i^ip.

And then he glanced upward, and as he did so,
an expression of intense amazement crept into his
countenance.

Suddenly dropping his eyes until they rested
upon the lower yard of the main-mast, he counted
loudly and impressively, "owe." Tipping back his
head until it formed a right angle with his spinal
column, he continued counting, as his eyes rested
successively upon the lower topsail, upper topsail,
topgallant, royal, and skysail yards, " 7\do — Three
'^Ibur—Mve — Six,^^ Then, without a change of

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VOYAaK ABOUND THE WOBLD. 49

positioD, he raised both hands towards heaven, and
exclaimed, **Good XfOrd/^^

Bat all this is irrelevant. My intention is to de-
scribe to you onr ship and shipV company.

The Hampton was doable decked, and had also
a poop deck. A poop deck is a part of a deck,
extending from the stem of a ship, to a greater or
less distance, towards the bow. The poop deck of
the Hampton extended forward to a point just be-
yond the mainmast.- So there was a projection of
this deck beyond the balkhead, of about six feet.

In the open space beneath, the pumps were lo-
cated. There were also openings on each side of
this projection, through which flights of steps led
from the midn deck up to the poop. The space
under the poop deck was divided into two parts by
a psu'tition thwart ships, just forward of the mizzen-
mast. The after part was finished into a cabin, and
made a very comfortable, commodious and pretty
one. It was lighted by skylights in the deck above,
and windows in the stem. The captain's state-
room is usually the aftermost one. on the starboard
side, which is the right hand side, looking forward.
On board the Hampton the captain's room was quite
large, containing, besides an ample berth, a chest
of drawers, a book case, chart box, chronometer
case, &c. It was lighted by a window in the stem.
A raised seat, called the transom looker, extended

A
Toxafe Arovnd the World. ^ {^ \

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50 BBlONISCSirOSS OF A

across the whole eabin. This was famished wUb
sluffed cushions, and was a very comfortable place
to sit down, or lie down*

Opposite the captain's state room, was the water
closet. The cabin contained six state rooms, besides
these. There were two entrances, one by a gang-
way and steps^ from the deck above, and the other
from the main deck forward.

The remaining space nnder the poop deck, for-
ward of the cabin, was, at this time, fitted np with
berths, and occupied by passengers. It was defiom-
inated thefartfiard cabin, while the other was known
as the after cabin.

On the main deck, just forward of the main
hatch, and extending nearly to the foremast, was a
house. This house was divided into three parts.
The after and larger part was designed to accom«
modate the ship's crew. Next was the galley, where
the cook reigned over the pots and kettles. The
forward part was a store room. The crew, how-
ever, instead of being lodged in the house designed
for them, were, at; this time, in a forecastle, tem-
porarily fitted up in " the eyes of the ship," between
decks, where such institutions usually are.

The house I have described was occupied by
several passengers, the second and third mates, the
carpenter, my brother and myself.

There need not be much said about the spars.

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WORLD. 51

and rigging, or sails. While ships difier very muph
in their arrangements upon deck, they differ very
little aloft, save that some carry a greater number
of sails than others. If you are acquainted with
the sails and rigging on board of one ship, you will
find that knowledge quite available on board ot
any other.

The ship's company, exclusive of passengers,
numbered twenty -four, consisting of four officers,
(captain and three mates,) two stewards, one cook,
fourteen seamen, and three boys, the latter count in-
cluding myself, who was rated as cabin boy.

This was an unusually large crew for a ship of
the Hampton's size, but, with a few exceptions,
all were working their way. It was the easiest
thing in the world, then, to ship a crew to go to
San Francisco, but, as we afterwards experienced,
the most difficult to ship one to sail from it.

When a ship leaves port there is generally plenty
of work for all hands. The anchors are to be se-
(Mired, chains unbent and stowed away, everything
moveable chocked and lashed, decks cleared up, &o.
At night the watches are chosen. On board of
merchant ships the men are divided into two watches.
On men-of-war, where men are more plentiful, and
owners richer, there are three watches.

While I was gazing from the poop, with a woe-
begone expression, at the shores of Maine, fast re-

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52 REMINISCENCES OF A

ceding in the distance and the darkness, the opera-
tion of choosing watches was going on, on the main
deck. The mates had proceeded thiihcr, and sum-
moned the men before them. The mate thea
selected a man, who responded to the call by going
over to the port side. Next the second mate chose,
and his man responded by passing over to the star-
board side. This was continued until all were
chosen, including the man at the wheel, who went,
to starboard or port, in count only, of course.

Any inequalities in watches thus chosen — and
the men being generally unknown to the officers,
tiiere must occasionally be such — are adjusted when
they become apparent.

The exempts from standing watch, are the cook,
steward, and cabin boy. The captain is also an ex-
empt, but it must not be inferred from this that he
sleeps all night always. Great responsibility rests
upon him, and in bad weather he is below but little,
night or day.

A '' trick" at the wheel is two hours in length.
The space of time that one keeps a lookout at night
is also two hours. The order in which these " tricks"
and lookouts shall occur, is settled by the men.
The man on lookout, .except in very bad weather,
is stationed on the topgallant forecastle, a short
deck in the bows of a ship, about four or five feet
above the main deck. This is a very bleak and wet

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VOYAGE ABOUNI) THE WORLD. 6$

place, and in bad weather, the lookout (meaniDg
the man,) is allowed a lee, if* he can find a con-
venient one.

In front of the man at the wheel is the binnacle,
a place for the ship's compasses. There is placed
in this, at night, a lamp which illuminates the com-
passes. In it, also, a time-piece is placed, and on
it, within reach of the steersman's hand, is a small
stationary bell, with a short lanyard or string, tied
to the tongue. On the topgallant forecastle is a
mnch larger bell, arranged in the same Way.

"We will suppose now, if you please, that it is mid-
night on board the ship. The larboard watch has just
gone below, and the starboard watch has the deck.

The second mate, who has charge, paces the
poop, his eyes roving in all directions, up at the
sails, forward into the gloom that is there, astern
into the gloom that is there, always restless and
observant. Anon he approaches the wheel and
gazes into the binnacle. There the helmsman stands,
grasping the spokes of the wheel, and his eyes watch
incessantly the compass, the sails, and the stars.
Perched on the forecastle, the lookout sweeps all
before with constant glances. ,ClangI It is half
past twelve, and the helmsman has struck " one bell.''
The lookout seizes the lanyard attached to the
tongue of the larger bell at his side, and in a heavier
tone res|)onds "one bell,"

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$i BBMINISOBNCBS OF A

At one o'clock ^Hwo bells'' are struck aft, and
repeated forward. " Three bells" announce half past
one, and " four bells" two o'clock. As the lookout
responds to "four bells," the word goes round to
"relieve the wheel," which is a figure of speech
meaning relieve the man at the wheel. Immediatdj
(if he be a considerate man,) the next on the sche-
dule proceeds aft.

There is a great deal of etiquette observed on
ship board, and if the ship is sailing with the wind
on one side, the men go to, and return from the
wheel on the opposite, or lee side. When the ship
is running dead before the wind, with square yards,
the starboard is, by general usage, the weather side,
and is respected as such by seamen. When the re-
lief reaches the wheel, and places his hands upon
the spokes released by the other, he pricks up his
ears so as to hear correctly the course. "South-
south-east," says the relieved man. "South-south-
east," repeats the relief, and the wheel is relieved.
Pronounce the above named course as if spelled
90u*'9uth-ea8ty if you wish to be nautical.

At half past two the new man at the wheel
strikes "five bells,'' and the new lookout responds
accordingly. Sometimes there is no response, be-
cause, from thinking of his sweetheart, or because
he is a numbhead, anyway, the look-out has gone
to sleep. The watchful officer listens for the re*

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WOBLD. 55

sponse. Often the man's watchmates make it for
him, or wake him, and it is aone tardily. But some-
times they .neither wake him, nor do it for him.
Then the officer, mnttcring wrathfolly, descends to
the main deck, draws a backet of water, and steals
forward. Slap-dash I It is all over the poor feUow,
and his returning senses are greeted by a hearty
kick, and, "Calking are ye, you lubber, you horse-
m»rine, you owl of the woods I Take that," repeat-
ing the kick, " and keep your eyelids pinned back in
my watch, my son."

The officer s^o^s back to his station molified, and
when "six bells" are struck aft, denoting three
o'clock, there is sure to be a prompt response from
the forecastle.

At half past three, ^^ seven bells" are struck, and
at four, "eight bells."

The look-out follows the last stroke of " eight
bells '' by, " and call the toatch.^^ Whereupon a
sailor takes a handspike, and thunders for a few
moments on the deck, and then, putting his head
into the entrance of the forecastle, he^ intones the
Inquired formula — " Larboard watch, a h-o-y ! Eight
bells! Wake up sleepers, and turn out/^^

The sleepers wake up, and turn put, and make
their toilets by the light of a tin lamp, filled with
slosh, and having a rope yam for a wick. Mean-
while the second mate has, in a less boisterous way,

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56 BBMINISCBNCES OF A

called his brother officer, and in a few moments the
watches are changed, and all is quiet save the reg-
ularly recurring strokes of the bell, which, begin--
ning at " one bell," check off the lapsing half hoars.

At "seven bells" in the morning watch, that is
at half past seven o'clock, all hands are called to
breakfast. Before this, the watch on duty have
washed the decks, a thing that is done every morn-
ing under all circumstances. As it is far from the
rail of a ship to the water, and it would be very
laborious to draw all the water for washing decks
from the sea in buckets, a pump is generally placed
in some part of a ship to raise the water for this
purpose. On board the Hampton this pump was
forward, just by the bowsprit. The water came up
in a copper pipe, set into the stem. The pumper
stood on the forecastle (short for topgallant fore-
castle). The water ran through a pipe under the
forecastle deck, into a large tub on the main deck.
From this it was dipped in buckets and passed about
the deck. The deck is wet, scrubbed and rinsed.

As water is always plentiful, enough is used on
each occasion to put out a moderate conflagration.
After the washing was done the poop deck was
usually swabbed dry.

It will be readily seen that dividing the twenty-
four hours into six watches of four hours each, would
bring one watch on deck at the saoie hours each

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YOTAGX ABOUND THB WOBLD. 5V

night — i. e. of the twelve hours pertaining to the
night, one watch would constantly be on deck eight
hours, and the other but four. To change this order,
the watch from four p. m. to eight p. m, is divided
into two, called " dog watches." At five the decks
are swept cleanly, and at six supper is eaten. From
six to eight, the last dog watch, all hands are gen-
erally on deck, and generally at leisure. This is
the time, in pleasant weather, for sky-larking, for
yarning, for smoking, and for singing.

Some one may ask why these short watches are
called doff watches.

I have heard two explanations of a humorous
character.

One is that the term is a corruption of dock
watch — a full watch docked^ or cut down ; the other
is that it is a ct^r-tailing of a full watch, and is,
therefore, properly termed a dog watch.

Seamen make puns and deliver themselves of a
great deal of very fair humorous matter.

A ship is called she contrary to the spirit of
grammatical usage. I have heard this reason for
it given : ^'A ship is of the feminine gender, because,
like a woman, her rigging costs more than her hull."

Amusing, if you never saw it before, but it's old
and threadbare, and besides, it's abominable and slan-
derous, and excessively unjust to the women, whom
may God bless continually.

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58 SBMINISOEKOBS OT ▲

CHAPTER V.

A BUBIAL AT SEA. — SKAMEN's SUPEBSTITIONS.

LHEK twenty days out, a passenger, Ezra
Whitman, of Waterville, Me., died. He
had been ill from the outset of the voyage. Day
after day he grew feebler, and on the twenty-ninth
of September, expired.

He had set out with us upon a long voyage-
to sail over the Atlantic and Pacific waters. But,
thus early on our way, he left us and embarked,
aJone^ upon a far longer voyage, and upon an ocean
vaster than the added Atlantic and Pacific, the
great Ocean of Eternity, which lies beyond the da*
ration of Time.

But he went not as an adventurer or discoverer,
without direction or destination. He committed his
frail bark to Christ, the faithful Pilot, and steered
for that city whose twelve gates are twelve pearls,
and whose streets are of pure gold. Oh, happy
destination t

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YOYAOB ABOUlfD THE WORLD. 50

Betimes, we reached our port, and entered its
** Golden Gate," and trod its thronged streets. We
saw its god, King Mammon, and his mnltitadinous
worshippers flocking from the comers of the earth.
Bat happier he who had entered the city with the
gates of pearL Fire, and all manner of desolation,
has scathed the ^^ City of the Golden Gate," and
its inhabitants go from it and return no more. But
in the city with the gates of pearl ^^ there shall be
no more curse ; but the throne of God and the
Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve
him. * * * And there shall be no night there ;
and thej shall need no candle, neither light of the
sun ; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they
shall reign forever and ever."

It was afternoon when poor Whitman's body was
conmiitted to the deep. There was no wind — not a
breath. Since morning not a catspi^w had wan-
dered by; but the sea, blue as the sky, stretched
£Eur away, smooth, glassy and imbroken. The flag
was set half mast It hung straight down in ver*
tical folds, opening and shutting slightly with the
monotonous motion of the ship, as she fell and rose,
slowly, on the long ocean swelL

At two o'clock the body of the deceased, sewed
up in canvass, and with heavy weights at the feet,
was borne out of the cabin. A plank, laid in the
starboard gangway, received it. The feet were

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00 BEHINISCBNCBS OF A

placed outboard. The whole ship's company, with
uncovered heads, assembled around. Almost perfect
silence ensued. There was no sound of animate
thing, save the twitter of the stormy-petrel — ^no
sound of inanimate thing, only the bellying and col-
lapsing sails. The service (that of the Church of
England,) was read by one of the passengers. The
reading was audible to all, though sad and low. j

" Man that is born of woman, hath but a short
time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up,
and is cut down like a flower ; he fleeth as it were
a shadow, and never continueth in one stay. i

" In the midst of life we are in death. Of whom
may we seek for succor, but of Thee, O Lord, who
for our sins art justly displeased? I

"Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most
mighty, O holy and most merciful Savior, deliver
us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.

" Thou knowest. Lord, the secrets of our hearts.
Shut not thy merciful ears to our prayers ; but spare
us. Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy
and merciful Savior, thou most worthy Judge Eter-
nal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of
death, to fall from thee.

"Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God,
in His wise providence, to take out of this world
the soul of our deceased brother, we therefore com-
mit his body to the deep, to be turned into cor-

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VOYAGE AROXIND THE WORLD. 61

ruption, looking to the resurrection of the body,
when the sea shall give up her dead, and the life
of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ;
who at his coming shall change our vile body, ac-
cording to the mighty working whereby he ia^able
to subdue all things to himself."

When the words " we therefore commit his body
to the deep," were pronounced, the end of the plank
which supported the head of the corpse was raised,
and the body slid with a gentle motion from it, and
fell heavily into the water. From my position I
could look over the side. I did look. Under the
gangway the ripple in the water was widening, and
the bubbles breaking, and down many feet under
the surface was the body, in its white cerements,
gliding obliquely away.

Poor brother ! Above thy resting place no green
grass grows — ^no fair flowers bloom. And only the
winged bird, the winged ship, and the invisible wind,
can tread the surface o'er thy head.

The services were ended. Thoughtful and silent,
but relieved, the seamen turned away. A corpse on
board a ship is a weight upon the hearts of all her
mariners. Their tones are subdued, and their words
and thoughts take a melancholy turn. They cannot
forget the fact. There is a constant and oppressive
anticipation of evil in their minds. Look they up
to heaven, or down into the deep, or abroad upon

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62 i^MiinsoENCss of a

the waste of waters, it is to behold some oomiog
evil, some strange, supernatural, overpowering woe*

It is one of the seaman's peculiar superstitions.
He is a strange being. He fears not the wind, or
the sea, the whizzing cannon ball, or the levelled
pike. These are of earth. He knows them, and in
conflict dares defy them. But when God's myster-
ious hand hath been laid upon a shipmate, and hatb
set free from, the body the imprisoned spirit, then
the seaman feels a power upon him that he cannot
resist. For there is on him no armor of scientific
truth to ward, off his* thick coming and mysterious
thoughts. May not the freed spirit (he reasons about
it thus,) visit its old abode of clay? In what^uise
will it come, if come it does ? Will I behold it ?
And if so, can I, unscathed, front a tenant of un-
earthly worlds?

They do, indeed, have strange fancies. One
calm day upon the passage I got a billet of wood,
and went aft to hurl . it at the flocks of Mother
Gary's Chickens, hovering about the stem. As I
stood with my arm raised, waiting for a good op«
portunity, the man at the wheel observed me.

" What are you about ?" he asked me suddenly.

"I am going to heave this at the birds," I answered.

With one nervous hand the great, big whiskered,
and bronzed man steadied the jerking wheel, and
the other extended towards me.

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TOTAGB ABOUin> THB WOBLB. 08

** Boy," — he was in earnest I knew by the depth
of his voice—** Boy, do yoa wish to see your home
again?"

I knew his meaning and attempted a laugh* I
was too much awed by his manner, however, to
succeed. He went on —

"B[ill one of them, and you'll see but few more
suns rise, mind you that This ship will sink, and
every soul on board her, if you draw a drop of blood,
or knock a feather from such birds as you see there."

"Why?" I questioned, though I foresaw his reply,

^^They^re sailors* souls. Think of your friends,
my lad, and if you love them drop that stick."

I dared not, in the presence of that earnest man,
and with his prophetic words ringing in my ears,
use my missile. I dropped it from my hand, which
bad grown strangely nerveless. It fell overboard,
and when the ship, pounding the water with her
counter, had impelled it a few feet from her, the
birds it was designed to destroy gathered noisily
about it.

Subsequently, Dr. Burleigh, the dispenser of pills
and emetics, brought up his rifle to practice firing.

After breaking a bottle, suspended from the end
of the mainyard by a ropeyarn, and shooting the
yam off in the middle, he announced his intention
of killing a Mother Carey's Chicken in full flight on
the wing. There was a general conviction that he

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64 BSMINISCBNCES OF A

would do it the first time firing, and the interest
was great. The Doctor charged his rifle carefully,
bent the cock, and raised the batt to his shoulder.

At the same moment two stout hands were laid
upon the barrel, one stout hand upon each of his
shoulders, and a very earnest voice said in his ear:

"Doctor, don't fire."

Two sailors, who had been occupied in the
vicinity, had taken the matter up.

The Doctor was furious, and swore he would
shoot, and shoot therriy if they did not desist. They
struggled together, and no one offered to interfere.

"Here, Captain," the Doctor shouted, finding
them resolute, "come here."

The captain approached from the other end of
the poop deck. Before he reached them he divined
the cause of the difficulty.

" Men," said he, "go back to your work. Doc-
tor" — ^but I will not endeavor to repeat his words.
Let it suffice to say that he convinced the Doctor
of an important fact, viz., that to secure cheerful
obedience, alacrity, and a wholesome humor in a
ship's company, one must respect their peculiar con-
victions, where such convictions cannot possibly in-
terfere with the goods, the rights, or the property
of others, or violate any principle or practice of
decent men.

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VOYAOE ABOUND THB WOBLD. 65

So, good was wroaght by snpersiition in both
these cases. I killed no birds and the Doctor killed
none. Shame on ns both that we thought to do so.

And shame on yon, my young readers, if ever
wantonly, and for sport, you take the life of any
harmless, living thing. Not that any such are the
souls of dead men, for that is ^a monstrous super-
stition; but God gave them their lives, which no
human art can restore ^hen lost What right to
kill them can you claim ? They, too, are under our
Heavenly Father's supervision. Not one of them
falls to the ground without His knowledge, Christ
has said, and though you may forget the murder
of one in a day, He will remember it all the days
of time, and His spirit will convict you of it when
it will seem very heinous in your eyes.

I will now enumerate briefly some other things
that excite the sailor's snperstition.

The sailing of a ship on Friday is widely known
as a cause of uneasiness to her mariners. They
term it " the unlucky day," and the stoutest hearted
old sea dog among them has dismal forebodings
whenever the subject is discussed.

In order to correct this superstition, a wealthy
merchant once laid the keel of a ship on Friday,
launched her on Friday, named her "Friday," and
gent her to sea on Friday.

Singularly enough, she was never heard of again,

Y^aC« Afound the World. ^ C^ ' \

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66 BBMINIfiCmieBS OF A

and, instead of correcting the superstition, this whole
affair seemed to confirm it absolutely.

On the other hand, my father, a ship master of
fifty years standing, always sailed on Friday, if
possible, and few men, I think, have made so many
voyages and met with so few. accidents.

Should a shark persist in following a ship for
any length of time, it would' be regarded as an omen
of ill. Say the sailors, *'He is after a meal of
man's flesh."

And they are confident that a wonderful instinct
has assured the voracious creature that he will get
it — confident that some one will fall overboard into
his jaws, or die and be committed to the sea. They
can cite a thousand instances where this has hap-
pened in their own, and otherH^ experience.

The perching of atmospheric meteors upon the
spars is a prognostication of disaster. They are evil
et/eSf say they, and whatsoever ship they look upon
is destined to shipwreck and ruin, unless saved by
the special good guardianship of Ood.

Continued calms, or continued storms, revive the

story of the disobedient prophet, voyaging frono:

Joppa to Tarshish. There is a mental casting of

lots, and he upon whom the lot falls, might well

exclaim with the ancient mariner —

** Ah ! weU-a-dayt what evU looki
Oitve I firom old and yomig.'*

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VOYAGE ABOUHD THX WOSLD. dY

He is not cast overboard, like Jonah of old, but
he is distrusted on all sides, and becomes an alien
from the little common wealth.

However, with the extension of commerce, and
a greater amount of education, these old supersti-
tions are dying out.^.

There is something fascinating to the ipind, even
to the most polished mind, in such things. We all
have a leaning in our natures toward the marvelous
and supernatural. But it would be a happy thing
if seamen would exchange their peculiar notions for
a belief in a kind and ever watchful Providence.

There are no malignant stars. Every motion in
the sea and air begins with Qod, and every pulse-
beat in every ereature of the sea and air. The
^ stirrer of the storm ^ is subject to his wilL He
works in all, and through all, not for the harm of
anyt but for the good of all.

The superstition of the ancient mariners is gone
with all its train of imaginiu-y horrors. Scylla and
Charybdis do not terrify now. The Sirens' songs
have ceased, and Circe's fatal cup was shattered
long ago. But the heavens are still the same. Cas-
tor and Pollux shine as benignly now as when Hor-
ace committed to their care the ship of Virgil. And
all the stars look down tmchanged and steadfast.
The sun and moon do rise and set the same. And
ihos, ever, reg;ardle8s of the ebb and flow of man's
imagination, will God's good gifts abide.

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08 BBMIDISCSNCSS 07 A

CHAPTER VI.

THE 8ABGASS0 SEA.

THINK I have said that I was cabin boy. In
a little time it became apparent, even to me,
that I was not giving perfect satisfaction to those
who were most interested in my labors. You see,
I had great curiosity to know all that was going
on — and, by the way, yon show me a boy that does
not have great curiosity, and I will show you a
greater wonder than ever Barnum exhibited. The
result of this great cariosity with me was that,
when a strange sail was annoanced, I immediately
left my work and began the ascent of the main rig-
ging, not pausing until I could throw a leg over
the main topsail yard, and there I remained a fix-
ture as long as anything was likely " to turn up."

A day or two after the burial of Whitman, de*
scribed in the preceeding chapter, I was plying my
avocation (scouring knives and forks) in the pantry.
The pantry was under the poop deck, just by one
of the entrances to the cabin.

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VOYAGK ABOUKD THE WOBLD. 69^

I was Dot SO deeply interested in my business
as not to be aware suddenly of an unusual stir on
both decks. I threw my Bristol brick and cork in
one direction, and my knives and forks in another,
and hurried out. It was a beautiful day. The wind
was moderate from the north-east, just aft the beam,
and the sea smooth as a mill pond. There was
evidently much interest excited among all on deck,
for some were going aloft, and many standing on
the rail; and from the direction in which all eyes
were turned, and all hands pointing, the interesting
object, whatever it might be, lay to the south-east.

I leaped into the rigging, and lost no time in
making my way to my accustomed perch on the
maintopsail yard. It was already occupied, but I
thrust myself forward, and looking off on the lar-
board bow, saw, a mile or thereabouts away, what,
at first glance, seemed a low, level island. A mo-
ment's observation, however, sei*ved to dispel this
illusion.

Its surface conformed to the suiface of the waves,
rising and falling with them. It must then bo a
vast field of floating material. Of what could it be
composed? In regard to this, one could not long
remain in uncertainty who made a good use of his
senses. All about the ship could be seen small
patches of floating sea- weed.

The great mass was certainly of the same maV

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10 BBMINISCBNCES OF A

ter, but on what a gigantic scale ! The patches
were small islets; this was a great continent.

After taking a g<5od long look, I descended to
the deck, and edged up to a group of after-cabin
passengers who were learnedly discnssing the phe-
nomena.

One made a remark something like this : ^' These
great fields don't seem to constantly occupy one
locality. East India ship-masters report falling in
with them on different meridians.'*

Another man immediately said : ^' The Gk>veni-
ment ought to have instructed Com. Wilkes to make
a thorough investigation of the sea hereabouts. He
could have settled a good many of these vexed
questions."

- "Then, after all,'* I said to myself, "it's noth-
ing new.'*

N'evo ! Oo back with me over the eighteen
Christian centuries, and the three pagan centuries
ihat immediately preceeded the birth of Christ. At
that remote time, we are told, a ship of Oades (now
Cadiz, in Spain), while sailing along the coast, was
driven by a furious north-east wind far out into
the great unknown- ocean, towards the setting sun
-driven, until at length they found themselves en-
tangled among vast and intertwined masses of float-
ing sea-weed.

Here the wind had no power to drive them fiu>

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ther, and when it abated and changed, they hastened
to extricate their ship, and harried away from this
strange region in terror and dismay.

In 1492, as we have all been taught, Columbus,
embarldng at Palos, sailed into this same unknown
sea, and encountered the same floating fields of
weed, and his crew expressed the same terror and
dismay. And from that day to this, ships have nav-
igated that sea, and the wonderful spectacle has not
failed to greet the mariner's eyes on each occasion.

At length, the Spaniards and Portugese, who
navigated it the most, named it the Mar de Sargas90j
the Weedy Sea.

I think I hear some inquisitive reader ask, " How
does all that sea- weed get there?" Oh yes, how
does it get there I Some things are hard to tell,
and this is one.

But, luckily, we have learned men among us,
who stick at nothing, and who will furnish you with
a reason for anything that exists, for aU that exists,
and for much that don't exist. |

These learned men have a theory to account for
the existence of the Sargasso Sea, and I, for one,
believe in it.

It is easy to illustrate this theory. Fill a pail
with water, throw in some bits of wood, and whiri
it around rapidly in one direction. Set it down
and observe it. The water is moving rapidly around

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f 2. BSHINISCBirCBS OF A

in it — ^most rapidly near the edges, but in the cen-
tre it is almost still. Where are the bits of wood?
In the still water in the centre.

Now let us see if we can find any analogy be-
tween our pail and the Central Atlantic.

Open your Atlas and find the map containing
this region. I told you in a former chapter, that
the Gulf Stream, which issues from the Gulf of Mex-
ico, could be traced, via Cape Hatteras and the
Grand Banks, to the Canaries. It does not stop
there, but flows on south, past the Cape de Verde
Islands, until it strikes and joins the great Equa-
torial current, which, issuing from the Gulf of Guinea,
on the African coast, runs westerly across the Atlan-
tic, and through the Carribean Sea, enters the Gulf
of Mexico. The circuit is complete, you see. And
the waters, constantly rounding this vast circuit, as
constantly throw off into the still water of the cen-
tre, all the floating material that they accumulate —
just as in the pail, the moving waters reject the bits
of wood, and they go inevitably into the quiet place
in the centre.

Now place the point of your pencil on the Ber-
muda Islands, then move it east across the ocean
to the Azores, then south to the Cape de Verde
Islands, then back across the ocean to the Bermudas
again. Nearly within the triangular limits yon haye

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T0YA6B ABOtnn> THE WOBLD. f 3

described the Sargasso Sea lies. It is about 260,000
sqaare miles in extent.

The greatest masses of weed are found at the
north-west and south-east extremities, one near the
Bermudas, the other just west of the Canaries. It
was in the neighbbrhood of this latter place that we
now were.

Humboldt has named this floating weed the
"Tropic Grape" — botanists term it fucuB natans.
It grows upon submarine rocks, from the Equator
to the fortieth parallel of latitude.

In contemplating one of these great masses, a
yariety almost infinite in form and extent is pre-
sented to the eye. I do not mean variety in the
masses, but in the weeds that compose theuL The
most frequent is the short, branchy cluster, so com-
mon in the Gulf Stream. There is one kind, how*
erer, described as having a stem from 1,000 to
1,500 feet in length, of the size of one's finger, and
with " filaments branching upwards like packthread."

This sea is also very prolific of animal life. In-
deed, naturalists describe it as consisting in part of
ndnute organisms. These afford food to larger
ereatores, that are in their own turn devoured.

The MedussB journey thither from the Gulf of
Mexico and fatten on the spoil they take — and the
whale also journeys thither ; and as he is very fond
of the MedusiB (they are his principal food), and

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H BJUnHISOEKOsis OF ▲

finds tbem here fat and tender, we can ima^e wbat
their fate is.

The Medasaa, commonly called sea neUles^ are a
jelly*like substance, haying the head, or what an-
swers to the head, in the centre, and the other
members radiating from this head.

The mass of weed I have described was the
largest that we saw, and with the leading breeze
that we then had, it soon disappeared on the quarter.

This Sargasso Sea is not only an interesting
locality to naturalists, but also to the classical stu-
dent, and the student of mediseval literature.

Here the Atlantis of Plato was located, that
land of grain and wine, and olives, of mighty for^
ests, green pastures, and splendid cities. Here, too,
were the Fortunate Islands, with their salubrious
climate, and profusion of perennial flowers. Here
rose the Isles of the Blessed, where the righteous,
without tasting death, realized heaven and immor-
tal bliss.

Here, at a later day, men looked for the Isle of
St Borondon, whose mountains loomed so enchant-
ingly to the eye, and yet so constantiy eluded all
near approach.

Here, too, was the Island of the Seven Cities,
witii its population of true believers, and its crosa-
crowned churches, inviting worship.

How the human soul, longing with inexpressible

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YOTAOS ASOUJSm THS WOBLD. 'IS

desire for the lost Eden of the race, luxuriates in
these descriptions of imaginary abodes of rest and
peace !

In the appendix to his Life of Columbus, Wash-
ington Irving gives very interesting accounts of the
Islands of St Borondon and the Seven Cities.

I s^d these accounts were interesting — so is the
whole work. For every one who has not read it,
there is a great treat in reserve, and I rcoommend
partaking of it as soon as convenient.

My habit of deserting my work to see what was
going on, of course called forth remonstrances from
the steward. I heard them unmoved, never prom-
ising to do better, and never making any offensive
reply — ^I may as well say never making any reply,
for I never did — but I continued steadfastly to do
as before.

At length the case was laid before the captain.
The result was that I was ignominioasly dismissed,
and a Bath boy, a year or two older, appointed in
my place.

I now became, in some respects, a vagabond—
i. ۥ, I experienced all the joys of vagabond life,
without any of its hardships and discomforts. I slept
very cosily at night, and feasted, physically and
mentally, by day. My physical food was pea soup,
beef, and duff— my mental food sncli books as " Ten
Thousand TopsaU-Sheet Blocks" " Fanny Campbell,

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76 BSIOHISCKXCBS OF ▲

The Female Pirate Capt^n," and <<The Blood-Red
Reyenger of the Spanish Main/' This Mnd of lit-
erature the passengers possessed by the basheL

These books were enclosed in fair ^^ yellow cov-
ers,'' and on their pages, inside, were described
adyentores so wonderinl that sometimes doubts of
their trath rose, even in my confiding mind. It was
all in printy however, and my doubts could not scale
such a wall as that. Many men disbelieve that
"Whatever is, is right," but no natural child dis-
believes that whatever is in print, is true.

As my supplies of time and books were unlim-
ited, I read on, and on, and on, until, at length, I
got an overdose, and became violently sick of
** yellow covered literature." Even now, when I see
such books, the sight produces nausea.

Many men are miserable because their children
seem to have acquired an insatiable taste for read-
ing " dime novels." The taste is not insatiable, thou
unhappy parent, but can be corrected. How are
children cured of stealing sugar ? Not by any Ho-
meopathic doses, bat by being compelled to eat
sugar in great quantities, until the stomach rebels,
and sends the saccharine matter back by the way
it came. Really, though if not Homeopathic prac-
tice, this is Homeopathic principle — similia similibtis
cfwrantur.

Proceed in the same way to correct this taste

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VOYAGB ABOUND THE WORLD. 77

for reading these books that are morally and men-
tally injorious. Buy dime novels by the wholesale,
set the children to reading, keep them rcadiug ;
when they tire give them no rest, and, my word
for it, in the end, you may cow them by the name
of these books, as " on the sands of Yemen the
Arab mother hushed her child by the name of
Richard."

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CHAPTER VII.

THE TBADE WINDS. — " MAN OVEBBOARD.'' — ^EL GOLFO
DE LAS DAMAS.

'EADER, I must ask you to resort to your
Atlas again. Open to the map of the world.
I propose to state the general rule in regard to
winds. The Equator is the centre of a calm space,
called the Equatorial Belt of calm. This belt is six
degrees in width, and, the Equator, being the cen-
tre, of course three degrees are of north latitude,
and three of south.

Thb is not exactly true all the year round, for
the belt is influenced by the sun as it declines to
the north and south. But my design is to present
the general rule only.

Between the northern degree of this belt, and
the thirtieth parallel of north latitude, the trade
winds blow continually.

Between the thirtieth and thirty-fifth parallels of
north latitude, is the calm belt of Cancer, called
by the sailors *' the horse latitudes.** Here the cakns
are varied by light, shifting winds.

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TOTA6B ASODHD ns WOBLD/] IB

From this calm bdt c^ Cancer to the northern
limit of navigation, south-west and west winds
prevaiL

Going south from the calm belt of the Equator,
we haye first the region of the south-east trade
winds. This region extends to the thirtieth parallel
of south latitude, and then comes the calm belt of
Capricorn. From this calm belt to the south pole
westerly winds prevail.

A knowledge of these facts just stated was ob-
tained by years of observation.

Now for the theory. In presenting it I will
make my explanations as brief as possible.

The atmosphere of the torrid zone, rarified by
the greater amount of heat, rises.

The air from both poles rushes in to fill the
vacuum. The result of that would be north and
south winds, blowing from the respective poles to
the Equator.

But this result is modified —

1. By the rotary motion of the earth about its
axis. It is eaf«y to see that thin easteriy progress
of the earth would give a westerly direction to the
north and south currents. It produces that change
in them which gives us the north-east and south-
east trade winds.

2. A return current from the Equator towards

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f

80^ BEMIKISCENCES OF ▲

the poles, interferes with a regular and nnintermpted
flow of the air from the poles* to the Equator.

While the polar atmosphere rushes to the Equa-
tor, the equatorial atmosphere rushes to the poles
to fill the vaccnum there. It is but an exchange
of places.

The rarified air of the equatorial . region moves
north and south above tne currents moving in the
opposite directions. Gradually increasing in density
as it recedes from the torrid zone, it descends, and
meets the polar currents between the thirtieth and
thirty-fifth parallels of latitude, and this meeting pro-
duces the calm belts of Cancer and Capricorn.

In the struggle here the relative positions of the
opposing currents are changed. That which moves
to the north becomes the lower current, and that
which moves toward the south the upper.

This wonderful circulation is incessant ; this go-
ing forth, and returning, admits no pause in the
start, or on the home-stretch. This circulation pre-
serves for the atmosphere its tonic, exhilarating,
life-giving power.

It is not a bad theory, is it? Certain it is that
we cannot adopt it, without an increase of our love
and reverence for the Great Creator.

It was the design of my father at the outset of
the voyage, to touch at the Cape Verde Islands for
water and fresh provisions. But, when within three

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YOYAaB AB0X7ND THE WORLD. 81

hundred miles of them, to the north-west, we struck
the fresh trade winds from the east-north-east.

Braced sharp up we could just look up for the
Islands. The ship was crank, the sea heavy, and
Ae current adverse. Under these circumstances Jo
fetch these Islands was impossible, and, as there
was sufficient water on board, it was resolved to-
keep the ship off for Rio Janeiro, in BrasD.

iW was October fifth.

The first part of the evening I was upon deck.
Everybody was in high spirits. There was reason
for it. We were making wonderful progress. The
wind was aft the beam, so that the great crowd of
sail that was carried on the ship drew fairly. The
foretopmaat studding-sail was set with a brace upon
the boom. The sea was long and high. Now and
then a wave would rear its crest far up and break.
I could see it for a moment, gleaming with ghostly
whiteness out in the night, then it would go down
with a sudden plunge, scattering the white foam far
ahead. Overhead the stars were gleaming through
a hazy atmosphere. Far astern the path of the ship
was marked with phosphorescent light The scene
was exhilarating, and I enjoyed it long.

At length I descended to the cabin and stretched
myself on the transom locker that I have described.
My father and several of the after-cabin passengers
were about the table, playing whist It might have

T«f •«• Ironad tbe World. ^

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82 KBHiinscEircss of a «

been haH an hour from the time when I came into
the cabin, that I heard a loud, but not iotelligible
shout from the forward part of the ship. The whist
players paused in all the attitudes of the game, and,
with their heads inclined, seemed to listen painfully
for a repetition of the cry. It came, almost imme-
diately, and this time from the poop deck aboTe our
heads. I did not even then understand the words,
but I saw the group at the taWe drop their cards,
with one motion, and leaping up, rush upon deck.

Filled w^ith astonishment, I also hastened to the
companion way and ascended. At first I beheld
only a dim mass of human forms, tossing in the wild-
est confusion ; then I saw forward through the dusky
air the foretopmast studding sail, with taok gone,
flaunting like a great battle banner from the yard.
The weather leeches of the topsails were lifting, and
away up, almost out of sight in the gloom, I could
hear the flutter of the lighter canvass.

I walked aft. The man at the wheel was turn-
ing it to port, tugging at the spokes with might
and main. The ship was flying away obliquely
across the sea several points from her course.

" Who is overboard ?*' roared my father from the
neighborhood of the mizzen-mast.

Then it was out. Then first I knew why all
these things were done.

^< Who is overboard V^ my father had demanded.

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TOYAOB ABOUND THB WOBLD. tZ

The hubbub of human yoices, which • had hith-
erto been deafening, died away, and one or two
tongues replied promptly:

"The steward — the steward I"

"IIow came he there?"

*' He jumped over."

"Was the alarm given immediately?"

"No, not for five or ten minutes. We didn't
believe he was gone at first."

There was a pause, then my father spoke again.

*'We are at least two miles from the man. The
sea runs high, and to send out the boat to look for
him would be to endanger the lives of all in her
without a chance of saving his« Besides, he jumped
overboard. Neither reason nor humanity requires
a boat's crew to be risked in search of him. Haul
oat that tack again."

It was all over. It only remained to discuss the
event. Gradually, as the discussion went on, the
facts were brought out.

The steward had been accused of taking liquor
from the state rooms of the passengers, and drink-
ing it This he strenuously denied, and also made
the gratuitous assertion that he never used intox-
icating drinks. But the liquor still continued to
disappear, and the steward was often obsei*ved to
be in a very excited state, raving almost, and then
to become ill Just previous to his jumping over-
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84 SBMINISC]^CBS OF ▲

board he was thus excited, and at night grew sick.
Dr. Burleigh, who still suspected him of theft and
drunkenness, determined upon a plan to satisfy him-
self in regard to it. Therefore, when the man was
much distressed, he gave Jiim a powerful emetic,
and desired him to deposit whatever he raised in a
bucket which he brought to him. A man was placed
to watch him, and see that he did not cast the con-
tents of the bucket overboard.

He soon vomited, and then he rose and walked
out of the cabin. Seeing that he left the bucket
behind, the man who was on the ^vatch did not in-
terfere with his motions.

Having reached the deck, the steward walked
past a number of passengers, who were sitting on
the main hatch, chatting, and going to the starboard
side of the deck, climbed up over the rail. Hang-
ing by his hands, and one foot over the water, he
turned his face towards those on the hatch, said
deliberately — "Good night, gentlemen," and dis-
appeared.

Those to whom he spoke, supposing him to be
in sport, and still hanging on outside of the rail,
did not trouble themselves about him at first But
when five minutes, or more, had gone by, and he
did not reappear, they began to feel uneasy.

And when, on looking, they could not discover
him, they gave the alarm, and pitched overboard
the carpenter's work-bench and a hen-coop.

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YOYAGS ABOUND THE WOBLD. .35

The mate, when he heard the cry, without a mo-
Bient's thought, ordered the helm to be put hard-a-
)»tarboard, and sprang to the boat to east off her
lashing5t.

At this moment my father reached the deck.
Seeing in what jeopardy the spars stood, he ordered
the helm to be changed at once, and the studding-
sail tack let go. These orders were promptly obeyed,
and the ship saved from catching aback.

What followed has already been told.

With regard to the contents of the bucket, my
memory has failed me. I have a dim impression
that brandy was there, but I will not say that it
was so.

The man was a strange one. The name he went
by was evidently not his own.

There were various reasons assigned for his rash
act Some thought he did not intend to get clear
overboard, and that his climbing over the side was
a sort of crazy joke.

But the greater number were more uncharitable,
and hinted about delirium tremens.

On former occasions he had threatened to jump
OYerboard.

The old Spanish navigators, in crossing from the
old world to the new, did not steer directly across
the ocean, but ran south, down the African coast
(cutting the Tropic of Cancer just to the westwsr*^

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of the Cape Verde Islands), until they reached
abont the fifteenth parallel of latitade, and then,
turning to the west, made a straight course across.

In this latitude the trade winds blow more
directly from the east, and the water is stiller, and
the skies brighter. The ship runs day after day
without a change in the sails.

Humboldt compares crossing the ocean here, to
descending a smoothly flowing river, and considers
there is less danger than in crossing one of the lakes
of Switzerland.

The Spaniards called it El Golfo de laa Damasy
the Ladies' Gulf, as much as to say that delicate
and sensitive women might navigate it with perfect
freedom from sea-sickness.

As we ran on to the south, the strength of the
wind gradually lessened. The sea fell, till the mo-
tion of the ship was hardly perceptible.

Universal nature has been termed a vast book,
from which all in sympathy with nature can read.

The page open to us then, was inscribed with
poetry — the poetry of the sea. Whoso loved poesy
and read:

• • «* To him the gushing of the waye,

Far, fax away did seem to moam and raye

On aUen shores; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

And deep asleep he seemed, yet all awake,

And music in his earn his beating heart did mAk*."

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YOYAGB ABOUND THB WOBLD.' 87

Great whales ewam leisurely by, projecting their
spiral columns of water into the air, and occasion-
ally displaying their vast black bulk to view. The
swift dolphins glided in our wake. We caught them,
and gazed with wonder on the rainbow colors which
they assumed in the agonies of death. The petrel
twittered about the stem. Shoals of porpoises frisked
about the bow, mocking our best speed. At times,
the man-eating shark ominously broke water on the
quarters. We caught the Portugese nian-of-war,
and burned our fingers in our eager curiosity. Clouds
of flying fish rose before pur advancing ship, like
grasshoppers, in autumn, before the pedestrian. Far
up, the tropic bird floated in the blue ether. Day
gneceeded night, and night the day, and always —

**The son came up upon the left,

Oat of the sea came he.
And he shone bright, and on the right

Went down Into the sea."

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CHAPTER VIII.

IN TUB DOLDRUMS. — CAPTURE OF A SHARK. — SHARKS.
— THB SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.

^E exchanged the delightful navigation of
^^j^;^^ the trade wind region, for the vexatious
navigation of the calm belt of the Equator, the dol-
drums of the sailor. It was a poor exchange, but
necessary.

•' Day after day, day after day,
We stuck , nor breath nor motion,
As Idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean."

That was the Ancient Mariners ship, mind you,
that stuck in such a melancholy manner. We stuck
often* enough, and long enough at a time, but there
was some life and motion— some of that variety
which is " the spice of life." There were more or
less squalls. A black cloud would rise in some part
of the great blue dome that enclosed us, and pre-
cipitated itself upon the ship in wind and rain.

Generally, though, there were "several rains to
one wind," as the boys say. However, there was

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WORLD. 89

always enoagh of the latter to make it neceflsary to
trim sails, a task that coald hardly be ezecated be-
fore both rain and wind were passed. Out would
blaze again the fierce sun. Wet shirts dried speedily
on the backs of the wearers. The wet on the decks
rose, in exlialations, and soon the pitch in the seams,
which had been boiling and bubbling before, would
boil and bubble again.

This state of things continued several days, and
a history of one day is a history of all. '

To the discomfort of intense heat, was added
the hardship of very poor water. It had been filled
from the Kennebec, and was none too good at the
time of filling. That was bad. It was put into
casks that had never held water before. That was
bad, too. Down there on the line it had become
ropy. It would string up on a stick like molasses.
When one took it rato^ it was necessary to hold the
nose tightly with one hand, and shut the eyes. The
sense of taste was still left to come in contact with
it, it is true, but thirst would overcome the disgust
of that

There is an idea prevalent among sea-faring
people, that whistling in a calm will bring wind.
Absurd as this may seem, it is true. If the whist-
ling is continued long enough^ the wind will surely
oome. We whistled zealously, but after two or three
days it got to be rather tiresome, and we hmled

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90 BXMIHISOSKOBS OF A

with joy the advent of a shark that swam leisurely
and inquiringly up to the ship, probably with the
mistaken notion that we were an African slaver, and
could supply — would be happy to do so— a dinner
of smothered negroes to an iiinerant shark. Besides
the usual obsequious pilot fish, there was a train of
young sharks in attendance.

Something was soon prepared for the visitor, but it
was not food. The third mate got into the mizzen
channels, under which the shark was lying, and pre-
sented his compliments in the shape of a harpoon,
which he drove half way through the unsuspicious
fish. And then there occurred before the eyes of
many witnesses, something which, I see, is not
credited in learned descriptions of the shark. This
was a female, and no sooner was the iron fixed in
her than, as if apprehensive of harm to them, she
received the young sharks into her stomach..

Nothing gives a sailor more pleasure than to
destroy a shark; therefore but little time elapsed
after the monster had been struck, before a bowline
was over the tail, and madame shark was escorted
to the port gangway. Here all hands were drawn
up to do her honor (or spite), and her passage from
the water to the deck, was attended by all the
tumult that three score tongues could make.

Once upon the deck, madame began to apply
her tail to it In a way that shook the ship. A man

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TOTAOS ABOUND THB WOBLD. 91

thereupon seized an axe, and sprang forward to
sever the unraly member — ^the tail — from the body;
but Dr. Burleigh, who was very much excited, with-
held him.

" On the head," said he. ** Hit her on the head.
I want to examine this tail, and see how so much
power is developed."

So the head received what was designed for the
tail, and under a torrent of blows (each one accom-
panied by an anathema), the shark seemed to sue-
comb. The Doctor then approached, and began an
examination of the caudal appendage, remarking
excitedly and learuedly to those around iiim as he
proceeded:

** Notice how this tail is bent up here at an ob-
tuse angle with the body. And see this tail fin.
How distinct its divisions into three parts 1 Nat-
uralists call them, I think, the superior, apical, and
inferior lobes. But look at this part of the tail
again. Feel of it Talk of human brawn and sinew.
Why, in the cartilaginous b6ne and solid flesh ot
this shark, tiiere^s more power and endurance than — ^"

Here the defunct (supposed to be) shark, as if
to give an illustration of the truth of the Doctor's
remarks, suddenly struck that individual a blow with
her tail, as he leaned over, heaving him backwards
into the arms of his hearers, with his stomach col-
lapsed, and his head in dose oontact with his knees.

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And then, while the naturalist had no breath left
with which to offer an objection, (if he still had the
disposition, which may be doubted,) the assault with
the axe was renewed, and the tail nearly severed
from thei>ody in several places. i

The throat was then cut, and the stomach open-
ed. Out of this, seven young sharks were taken,
"alive and well." They were about twenty inches
in length, and, on a small scale, fine models of their
mother.

The axe was immediately applied to them, and
they were each thrown overboard in two pieces.
And then the old shark, beaten on the head, dis*
embowelled, with throat cut, and tail chopped off,
was cast, with sco^ and revilings, after her young.
Life ought to have been extinct under these cir-
cumstances, but it was not No sooner had the
water closed over her, than she assumed a life-like
position— the pectoral fins beat the water feebly, and
the body moved languidly away.

I think, however, despite the tenacity of life, that
there was, at no remote time, the corpse of a shark
in those waters.

I have some hesitation about assigning our priz^
to any particular branch of the shark family. It
resembled in color the blue shark, but it exceeded
the individuals of that species in size, and the tropics
are not a favorite locality of the blue shark.

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YOTAGS AROUND THE WOBLD. 9S '

The animal we had killed was upwards of twelve
feet in length. Its snout projected beyond its month,
which was capacious, and displayed the liberal allow-
ance of triangular, serrated teeth, which has fallen
to the lot of sharks. And ^* its eyes had all the
seeming of a demon^s that is dr — ^" no, not dream-
ing, but wide awake, and engaged in a most fiend-
ish piece of cruelty. There is something absolutely
diabolical in the gaze of a shark. The skin was
rough as a grater, and hard. Sharks have no scales.

The white shark is the most formidable of the
species, though it is often surpassed in size by the
basking shark, a specimen of which kind, it will be
remembered, was captured recently near Eastport,
in Maine.

The white shark attains a length of thirty or
thirty-five feet. Its belly and sides are whitish, and
its back brown. Its head is large, and its mouth
enormous. It frequents the tropics, swimming near
the surface.

The story goes that this kind of shark used to
attend the slave ships on their return from Africa
with cargoes of slaves. Old sailors credit it with
great intelligence in the matter, and say it fully
comprehends the state of affairs on board.

The sperm whale is the only inhabitant of the
ocean that can destroy the white shark in a fair
combat. The whale, not being properly a fish, the

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' 94 SEMIKISCBNCBS OF A

title of " King of the Fishes," may be said to belong
rightfully to the white shark.

The swingle-tail, or fox shark, the Tiammer-
headed shark, and the saw-fish, represent the un-
couth und remarkable of the shark family.

I would like to tell a shark story here, but I
realize that I am progressing slowly on the long
road I propose to travel, and I refrain.

October 5th we fanned across the equinoxial line,
and entered the Southern Hemisphere. Here, mid-
way across the torrid zone, I would pause a moment
to remark upon its characteristics. It is here that a
wanderer from the far North is most sensible of a
new order of things. Perpetual summer reigns. To
distant lands, grim winter with his frost and snow,
is exiled evermore. The North wind is shorn of its
sting. The Sun is King supreme.

But more strange to him than constant summer,
is the aspect of the sky ; for in his own land there
is summer once a year, and balmy air, and glorious
sunshine; but his eyes raised to the starry vault
behold no Southern Cross, no Constellation of the
Ship, no Magellanic Clouds.

Just think of it — before us was an unknown fir-
mament, set with new and splendid Constellations
and stars, and behind us, what ? A lonesome spec-
tacle, a northern firmament without a polar star.

Another peculiarity, to us, of this region,

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VOTJLGB ABOtmD THB WOBLB. 95

the «addon transition from light to darkness, and
from darkness to light, at the setting, and the rising
of the sun. Here^ in the north, the sun, as it were,
comes slowly up. We see first a faint glow of light
low down along the east Slowly it widens and
brightens, flushing up the sky. Dark objects change
to gray, and gray to white. One by one the stars
go out; and at length, the sun, too blight for
human eyes to gaze upon, appears, throwing a flood
of light on the hill tops and into the ^valleys.

In the intertropical region it is not so. There
the san leaps above the horizon, and the change
from darkness to light is instantaneous and complete.
No crepuscular light intervenes, as hei^, to intro-
duce the divisions of time to each other. The
change from light to darkness is equally swift.

^ The Ban's rim dips; Uie stars rash oat;
At one stride eootes the dark—"

Particularly was this the case when we reached
the fourteenth parallel of south latitude, which rep-
resented the sun's southei*n declination at that time.

At noon the great o|rb was exactly overhead and
we cast nq shadqw^. And thereafter, until we bad
4oQb}^4 ^^ ^^^ course, and reached the torrid zone
again in the Pacific, the sun's path lay to the north
of us.

There is a vare beauty about a "sunset at sea"
in the tropics. The clouds, absent all day, then

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gather in the West, sometimes in fleecy fragments.
They catch the bright rays, flung broadcast from
the sinking luminary, and present them again to the
eye in gorgeous colors, or in those soft tints and
hues, that the highest human genius must always
fail to represent on canvass.

Sunsets, at sea, in every clime, have a wide rep-
utation for beauty. Early on the passage my atten-
tion was drawn to this fact by hearing the passengers
comment upon it.

And I soon learned how to behold three sunsets
at the close of one day. I would stand on deck
until the sun went down and out of sight, and I had
beheld the spectacle once, then I would spring into
the rigging and go rapidly aloft. Before reaching
the topsail yard, my elevation would be sufficient to
make the sun again visible above the horizon. As
soon as it had set a second time, I would rapidly
ascend again with the same result as before. This
was a favorite amusement with me until I tired of U.

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YOYAOm AIUHTKB THB W<>BLD. 99

CHAPTER IX.

FERNANDO NOBONHA. — A SUSPICIOUS SAIL.— BIO JAX-
EIRO.

tCTOBER 27th, two days after crossing the
line, we made the Island of Fernando No-
ronha. We saw it first in the morning, bearing
west-south-west, distant twenty-five miles. I sat
upon the miszen topgallant yard, and gazed at it for
hours. Since the shores of Maine disappeared, we
had seen no other land. This was in another hem-
isphere, and in the torrid zone. Of course I was
very happy, sitting aloft and beholding Fernando
Noronha, as we glided slowly by it. A wall of
white foam girdled the dark, high shore. It seemed
noiseless and motionless, but I knew it was rolling
and dashing with a noise like thunder; so far off
were we that neither motion was distinguishable,
nor noise audible. Though tho wall of foam ap-
peared a straight unbroken line against the laud, not
BO the land against the sky. The tall pyramid,
which renders the appearance of the Island remark-
able, shot up like the spire of a church.

Y«fmg« Aroand the World. • r^ i

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Fernando Noronha lies about 200 miles from the
coast of Brazil, in 3^ 55' south latitude. It is seven
miles long, and three broad.

The pyramid is about 1000 feet in height, and
composed of phonolitic rocks, severed, in many-
places, into irregular columns.

Another freak of nature, also, is seen on this
Island. Its south-west point is pierced through, and
the aperture has received the name of the "Hole-
m-the-Wall." Through it the sea tumbles mag-
nificently.

Fernando Noronha is well wooded. The soil is
generally fertile ; bat, on two accounts, not much is
produced from it Frequent and long droughts is
one reason, and the other is a lack of energy and
enterprise in the inhabitants.

The Brazilian government has made the Island
a place of exile for the vilest criminals. It is gar-
risoned by a small force, and has been fortified to
some extent

In most accounts of this Island it is stated that
, no woman is allowed to set her foot upon it

If this were true we might fancy that old bach-
elors would commit crimes in order to be banished
thither. But, fortunately for all its people, convicts
and keepers, this is not true. Capt Lee, of the U.
S. brig Dolphin, gives the following list of popula-
tion in 1852, viz., 103 officers and soldiers, 310 pris-
oners, 289 other persons, men, womeriy and chi^dreQ^

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VOTAQB ABOUND TBB WOBLD. 99

I remember that I had resolved to sketch all the
wonderful lands we should see. It was a most
presamptious resolation, for I coald not then, can-
not now, and never can sketch any more than a
horse. But I began, and sketched Fernando No-
ronha. My sketch might bo called a kind of a fresco,
for I lay in my berth and used the pencil on the walL

The hlacJc place that I made still remained when,
at the end of the voyage, I left the ship, and as its
value woald hardly justify any one in carrying off
the board it was on, it probably there remained until,
together with hull and cargo, spars, sails and rig-
ging, it was buried beneath the ocean in the grave
where so many ships lie.

We passed Fernando Noronha with a light wind
from the south-east This continued two or three
days, during which we ran close hauled by tiie wind
on a south-south-west course.

One night during that time, I was aroused by
hearing hoarse voices, shouting, and unintelligible
words. I got out of my berth very expeditiously, and a
few steps placed me in position to make observations.
It was a fine starlight night, and I saw, as soon as I
had rubbed my eyes open, just under our lee, two
towering pyramids of canvass rising in the air. The
hull from which they rose was hardly distinguishable,
but their rake, and a long succession of jibs, in one
direction, indicated that the stranger was sailing in

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the same direction as ourselves. The hailing that
had aroused me was still going on, though the osaal
qaestions had heen asked and answered.

" How many passengers did you say you had ?**
asked the yoIcc from the brig.

The number was given a second time, and then
followed statements of longitude, and histories of
wind and weather.

Notwithstanding that she was directly under oar
lee, and her sails somewhat becalmed by ours, the
brig drew rapidly ahead, and was soon hidden from
view aft, by our head sails.

^^ What brig is it?'' I asked of one of the watch«

^^ Blamed if I could understand what he called
her. What was it, Tom?" he asked of another
sailor.

^* Don't know." And the question passed around,
eliciting from all the men the same reply, acoom-
panied in some cases by the information that the
stranger was ^^ from St Johns, loaded with codfish,
and bound to Pemambuco, and could everlastingly
sail"

So I ascended to the poop deck, and insinuated
my questions there. But no more knowledge was
to be gained there than on the main deck. I then
looked into the binnacle, and seeing that it was
only half-past three, a. m., turned in again, and was
soon dreaming of a nameless brig *^ from St. Johns,

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WOBLD. 101

loaded with codfish, and bound to Pernambuco, and
that could everlastingly sail."

The sun was shining biightly over the vast ex-
panse of ocean, when, at seven bells, I stepped on
deck again. The brig was a mile or two ahead and
behaved oddly, everybody said.

It was odd behavior. She would sweep up to
the wind, and lie with sails shaking a while, and
then, having gathered way again, she would yaw
broad off, and run before the wind a few minutes.
Her aim in this was, evidently, not to increase her
distance from us.

At ten she wore short round on her heel, and
stood back, heading just to leeward of us.

Then I began to hear the word pirate used
pretty freely. The popular description of a piratical
craft applied to her exactly. She was long, low in
the water, and her black paint was relieved only by
a narrow yellow stripe. Her masts were long and
raked a great deal, and her sails were largo and
many.

I soon found out, (for ray own fears were ex-
cited, and I put a great many questions), there were
two classes that said pirate. One class really thought
the stranger to be a freebooter ; the other class did
not think so, but pretended to, and said and did all
ihey could to create a panic. The mate was one of
the latter class. His state room was at the side of

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102 BSMnnSOSKCES OV A

one of the entrances to the cabin ftom the main
deck. Pretty soon those passing in and out, saw
through the door of the room, purposely left open,
his sword and pistols lying on the table. This fact
was soon noised abroad, and was considered ter«
ribly ominoas.

Another of this class, an old sailor, who was
a kind of oracle to many of the passengers, bor-
rowed a spyglass of the officers, and ascended with
it to the foretopsail yard. From thence he made a
long and close scrutiny of the brig, now under our
lee again, about a quarter of a mile" off.

When he came down he was immediately sur*
rounded by anxious passengers. His countenance
was portentous.

"Load your rifles and pistols," he said, nodding
his head significantly, " and get ready to die like
men. It'll come to that, or walking a plank."

"What did you see?" gasped several.

" Codfish be blowed — " he said, looking absently
into the air, and then turning to the questioners, he
answered :

" Why, the hatches are all open, and I saw them,
and the gangways, full of heads with red caps on.
And," pointing his finger toward the brig, " do you
see that whitish bunch just aft the foremast?"

I could see nothing, but others seemed to have
better eyes, for tiiere was a chorus of " Yes, yes I '•

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VOTAGK ABOrnSTD THK WOBLD. 103

*' Well, I saw the top of that banch lifted, and

if there ain't a long brass thirty-two pounder under

there, call me a swab, that's all."

*
Saying this, he turned away, leaving his hearers

In rather an uncomfortable frame of mind.

When the brig was off our lee quarter, our colors
were hoisted. None were shown in return. I looked
at her frequently with the glass. Her decks were
flush, but I saw nothing unusual on them. Besides
the man at the wheel, there were a few others
sauntering about the deck. That was all.

As the brig increased her distance from ns, the
terrified ones began to breathe more freely. One
even said, in a joking way, to the oracular sailor :

"Well, your pirate seems to be taking himself
off, after all."

The man answered with terrible positiveness, .
and deliberation:

"Mark my words. In ten minutes that fellow
will be round in our wake, and then if he don't
open with long Tom, and make toothpicks of us,
just get ready to repel boarders, that's alL"

In two minutes from that time the brig tacked,
and came on with her head straight for us.

A great many loaded their firearms. On one
poor fellow, insane with fear, the sailors tied, with
a rope yarn, an old rusty cutlass, and put on his
head a canvass draw-bucket, adorned with a rooster's

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104 BVMINISCBNOBS OF A

tail feathers. Thus accoutred he ran about the dect
in a perfect frenzy.

But t^ terrible bng, as she neared us, hugged
the wind closer and closer, and passed a mile, or
more, to windward. When the sun went down she
was hull down on our weather bow.

ThQ forecastle oracle, however, insisted that she
would be down upon us again in the night, and,
through his representations, many were robbed of
their sleep. But when morning came the suspicious
craft was nowhere to be seen.

It must be conceded that the mahoeuvres of this
vessel were mysterious, if not suspicious. During
the day it was the opinion of our officers that Capt.
John Bull (the brig had claimed to be English) had
uncorked some very strong ale that morning, and
was giving " the blasted Yankee a specimen of Brit-
ish sailing, you know.'' But her final disappearance,
on a wind, when her port lay to leeward, combined
with all the rest, inclined them to think her an out-
ward bound slaver, in want of provisions. Probably
our large number of passengers prevented our being
boarded and plundered.

Nov. 6, at noon, we made the lofty promontory
of Cape Frio, bearing west, distant forty-five nules
During the afternoon, the wind was light, and we
made but little headway. Towards night, however,

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TOTAGK ABOUND THK WOBLD. 105

it freshened, and the ship, bending gracefully to it,
dashed along with great swiftness.

Just before sunset an object was discovered shore-
ward of us, rising and falling on the waves. It
seemed to be a small sail, but what it was spread
upon we could not imagine. As the course of the
ship was almost directly towards it, and the wind
fresh, we soon had it close aboard.

It was a queer craft. The hull consisted of logs
fastened together. The single mast raised near what
was then the bow, and crossed at the top by a yard
from which the dingy sail hung like a ship's fore-
sail. There appeared to be a raised seat at the
other end that accommodated the crew of two men.
The swiftly coming darkness did not permit us to
note many particulars, but we saw enough to know
that this was a jangada, or catamaran, a kind of
craft used by the Brazilians in fishing and coasting.

These catamarans are generally composed of from
eight to twelve trunks of the buoyant, jangada tree,
rudely secured by wooden cross-fastenings. The
more common sail is a triangular, fore and aft one.
We should not wish to navigate our coasts with
such contrivances, but it is a different thing along
the Brazilian shore.

There the winds are as constant as the sun, at
night, and in the morning, blowing off shore, and
during the day blowing on shore. These are called

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106 BSMINISCBNUJB0 mf A

land and sea breezes. They are caused by the sun's
heat by day, and the absence of that heat at night
The earth is sooner heated by the sun's rays than
the water/ and the rarified air ascends. The cooler
air from the ocean, rushing shoreward to fill the
yacuum, makes the sea breeze.

The earth cools more rapidly than the water, in
the absence of the sun's rays, and consequently^ at
night and in the morning there is a passage of air
from the land to the water. This makes the land
breeze.

When the sun rose the following morning, we
were becalmed off the entrance to the Bay of Rio
Janeiro. The ship was all alive. Expectation stood
upon tiptoe. Here, a group of passengers stood
ganng upon the lofty brown summits of the moun-
tains, and discussing their appearance in cheerful
and animated tones — there, others were blacking
their boots and brushing their coats preparatory to
examining more closely this novel and majestic land.

Forward the crew were hooking up the chain
cables from their lockers, overhauling ranges, and
casting loose the anchors. Afk the boys were scour-
ing up the brass ornaments, and rubbing the taraish
from the white paint.

Vessels were all around, inside and outside,
wherever the land breeze had failed them.

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YOYAQlBt'AAOVTSm THE WOBLD. lOY

Ever and anon, over the sparkling expanse of
water, that stretched away inland, came the hoarse
boom of cannon. It was a time of joyous excite-
ment until the wind came; a time of eager antici-
pation, yet of high enjoyment.

About noon a movement in the air was percep-
tible. The light sails began to flutter; the smooth
surface of the water stirred, and the sea breeze was
setting in.

Hardly fifteen minutes had elapsed, after the first
faint breath, before wo were gliding quickly along
with every sail fairly filled and distended by the
breeze.

I gazed in admiration and awe. On the left was
the Pao d'Ossncar, the Sugar Loaf, which forms
the west side of the entrance to the bay, and is a
certain and unmistakable landmark.

My eyes took in, at once, its perfectly conical
sides, so steep and smooth, and beyond it a range
of fantastic hills, receding one behind another until
lost in the distance. On the right hand were less
lofty hills, clad with tropical vegetation. We could
distinguish the broad leaf of the banana and the
feathery foliage of the palm.

The first fortification we passed was the Castle
of Santa Cruz, situated at the eastern extremity of
the entrance. Between this and Ilha da.Lage op-
posite, the passage is only about 5,000 feet in width.

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The castle was a Tast and massive strnotare
Great cannons stared at ns over the front wall,
and from a tall staff above them streamed the Bra-
zilian flag.

A sentinel paced the battlements, wheeling in
his rounds right above the seething foam, that froth-
ed and frittered on the rocks below, for the castle
wall rose, as it were, sharply up from the^ edge of
the sea. We passed within a stone's throw of it
The sentinel hailed in bad English:

"What sheep is dat?"

"The Hampton."

"Vare well. Where you come from?"

"Bath, U. S. A."

"Vare well. Where you go?"

"San Francisco."

"Vare well. I tank you, sare."

This last was said witli a wave of the hand, as
if to say — "Pass, ship Hampton,"

And now the whole magnificent Bay of Rio Jan-
eiro opened before us. With many a gradual curve,
and many a sharp angle, the right hand shore swept
away to the north. On the left, battery after bat-
tery watched defiantly the incoming and outgoing
ships.

Beyond lay the city, at the feet of the mountains,
its streets wandering in the valleys, and its churches

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VOYAOS ABOUHD TRX ITOBLD. ICD

and convents crowning the summits of the hills.
The sharp, high peaks of the Organ Moantains, a
fitting background to so fine a picture, closed the
view in that direction. Off from the city was the
anchorage crowded with ships, the men-of-war by
themselves in one place, the merchantmen by them-
selves in another. At 4 p. m. we anchored.

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110 BJBMINIBCSVCSS 09 A

CHAPTER X.

AT BIO JANBIKO.

O sooner had the ship swung to her anchor,
than a number of boats approached within
speaking distance, and their occupants, lying on
their oars, entered into conversation with us. They
were ship-chandlers, and offered to furnish for the
ship whatever was required.

The truth of the old saying, " Two of a trade
can never agree," was here exemplified, as strongly
as ever it was in the northern hemisphere. The
rival merchants designated eakh other by the most
opprobrious epithets, and bandied words in a man-
ner not surpassed by the ancient dames of any fish-
market in the world. They were generally Eng-
lishmen.

In the midst of the parley a man-of-war's boat,
rowed by eight men, steered by a coxswain, com-
manded by a midshipman, and flying the stars and
stripes, pulled up, and lay on our starboard quar-
ter. The midshipman hailed in very polite tones,

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VOYAGB ABOUKD THE WOBLD. Ill

beginning with the question, "What ship is that?"
and ending with, " Have you seen any ships of the
squadron."

We had not seen any.

To a question from U8, he replied that he be-
longed to the frigate " Brandywine," flag-ship of the
United Slates squadron on the Brazilian station.
This fine frigate was easily distinguished, lying
among the armed ships of many nations, in the
direction of the Island of Cobras.

As the boat sped away, the eight oars dipping
with the exactness of machinery, it was followed by
very envious looks from me, directed chiefly at the
youthful officer, whose gold lace and dignified oc-
oupation fascinated me.

In due time the port formalities were over, and
boats were permitted to come alongside, and we
were at liberty to go on shore. Then a ship-chandler
was engaged to supply the ship.

I believe the applicant who received the most
abuse from his fellows was the one favored with
our custom. This was done, I suppose, on the prin-
ciple that '^the devil is never so black as he is
painted."

This man entered upon hia duties by immediately
bringing off to the ship, as a present (he said), several
bushels of oranges and bananas.

That night it fell to my lot to stand anchor

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112 BSMINISCBKCBS OF A

watoh from eight to ten. I passed the two hoars
in a very agreeable manner, eating oranges, and
listening to the music of the bands on board the
men-of-war.

It seems to me that the most unappreciative na-
ture would have enjoyed that evening, even without
the oranges.

The air was delicious. The starry host were
making their finest display. The surface of the
water was like a mirror — like it, in that it was smooth
as glass, and in that it reflected all the overhang-
ing stars.

The lights of the city, beginning high up among
the dark hills, swept down to the water's edge, and
seemed to be continued on in the lights of the
shipping

Beyond, the dark outlines of the mountains were
dimly visible, in seeming, a mighty rampart, brist-
ling with towers, and guarding the city to the west.

In the opposite directions, across the bay, fewer
and less distinct, the lights of Praia Grande and
San Domingo were visible.

While the sense of sight was thus addressed, the
hearing was ravished by the strains of music that
oame, purified by their passage, over the interven-
ing water.

I landed two or three times each day, but was
generally left in chai*ge of thfe boat, and my chances

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TOYAQB ABOUND THE WOBLD. 113

for observation were very limited. But one day I
iva9 relieved from this daty, and it was with great
joy that I turned my back upon the landing, and
set forward to "see what I should see."

A little way from the shore I lingered at the
threshold of a large building, inside of which, in
full view, scores of naval oflScers, English, American,
French, Spanish, and Brazilian, all gorgeous in bul-
lion, lace, and glittering trappings, were smoking,
chatting, and playing billiards.

At every onward step some novelty greeted
my senses.

Troops of stalwart negroes, with sacks of coiEde
on their heads, trotted in Indian file along the streets,
shouting, singing, and shaking rallies as they went.

I heard no intelligible sound from any source.

My eyes rested wonderingly on the white stone
walls, and red tiled coofs of the buildings. And the
style of architecture was new and strange. But
what drew admiration as well as wonder from me
was beholding the marvelous fountains. They abound
in the city. Many that I saw were designed mainly
as monuments are with us; a square base support-
ing a shaft. From the four sides of this base poured
streams of sparkling water, that fell into reservoirs,
from which it was dipped and drank, or conveyed
away, as required. The faces of the base were
tastefully sculptured, and there was a style about

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114 BBHnaSCBKCBS OF ▲

the shafts that seemed Arabesque, and there are
reasons why it might have been so.

At these reservoirs multitudes of blacks of both
sexes were filling, amid shouts of laughter and the
shrillest ejaculations, vessels with water, and con-
veying them away upon their heads.

At length I reached the market, and not Aladin
when he surveyed the treasures of that subterranean
treasure house, wag more amazed than I, on this
occasion.

Parrots displayed their gay plumage and uttered
their harsh screams. Hosts of diminutive monkeys
gyrated and chattered. Over a vast space boquets
of fresh and beautiful flowers filled the air with fra-
grance. Green vegetables and bright yellow fruits
were mingled in a pleasing contrast Portly ne-
gresses, turbaned and dignified, waited upon the
thronging customers. Oranges,, bananas, cocoa nuts,
plantains, pine apples, and fruits of which I had
never heard or dreamed, mangoes, mammoons, man«
gabas, goyabus, and all the long list of tropical
fruits, were heaped in profusion around.

But what images are these that association is
evoking from the dark recesses of memory^s
store-house ?

I seem to see among this motley throng a group
with graceful forms and fair faces. By fair, I mean
beautiful, not blond. These are intensely brunette^

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TOYAQB ABOUND THB WORLD. 115

another style of beauty. Indeed, the blood in the
cheeks, as seen through the transparent skin, l\as a
tinge that is faintly duskish. But the rich lips have
caught their tint from the red rose bud — such lips
as. are sweetest in a caress, and from which you
are most unwilling to part.

The eyes are intensely black, liquid fountains
having Lethean power, so that whoever looks into
their depths forgets much that men ought always
to remember.

I welcome back from a period of forgetfulness
these returning images, and present them now as
characteristic types of the females of that race
and clime.

Under the influence of some pleasing excitement,
these were animated, vivacious, sparkling, voluble
of sweet, rippling sounds.

But when excitement is wanting, all this animation
is said to be wanting also, and languor and repose,
are most characteristic.

A combination of these charms I have enumer^
ated^ with permanent energy of character, and vivac-
ity, sometimes springs from a union, under temperate
skies, of this race with the stirring Anglo-Saxon.

And this combination makes a very, very charm-
ing individual.

Th>e writer knows whereof he writes.

One day of our stay in Rio was Sunday. Early

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116 SBMIHISCSKCXS OV A

in the moroing, having donned oar best clothes, my
brother, a cousin, and myself went on shore for an
extended stroll about the city.

We did not waste any time in viewing again
what we had already seen, but, passing rapidly into
the Palace Square, we turned to the left, movins^
more slowly when the familiar localities were left
behind.

For some time our view was limited, but, as we
went forward, suddenly, and without any intimation
of what was coming, there was opened to us a wide*
and magnificijut prospect.

Right before us lay the Passeio Publico, the pub-
lic promenade of the capitol of Brazil, with its beau-
tiful, but strange, trees, shrubs, and flowers. Here
nature, prolific beyond description, had been aided
by the cultivated taste of man, and money in pro-
fusion.

On the right, the hill of Santa Theresa showed
a brow wreathed with green tropic trees, and a base
girdled with white cottages. Beyond the Passeio
Publico, distant summits of mountains were visible,
and the crowns of nearer hills, and the towers of
public edifices, and, hore and there, stretches of
water, silvery in the morning calm.

One side of the Passeio Publico comes down to
the shore, and at this point there is a wide terrace.
Here you walk on pavements of variegated marble.

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YOYAGX AMOmU TBS WOBLD. Ill

ftad at the extremities of the terrace, stand little
airy, elegant chapels, or. shrines.

We pressed forward to this terrace, and, stand-
iag within an angle of it, hushed our talk and gazed.

Across the water we beheld the picturesque
shores about Jurujuba Bay. Through the entrance
to the harbor we looked upon the ocean beyond,
and saw, for a small space, the sky and water meet-
ZDg. To the south, the towering Sugar Loaf ohal-
lenged our admiration.

In the same direction, but close at hand, the
green summit of Gloria Hill rose behind the tall
tower of Gloria Church.

Sights so grand and so novel had one effect upon
us, if we were uututored. Our tongues were stilL

We were soon in motion again, going this time
in a direction that led away from the shore, and
back towards the suburbs of the city. We saw in
many gardens, the orange tree with its green leaves,
white flowers, and yellow fruit. It was strange to
us to see flower and fruit on the same bough. Tiny
humming birds darted about, gay enough in their
golden and green feathers.

The air was fragrant with the perfume of the
rose, the myrtle, and the citron.

As we went we had frequent glimpses of the tall
palms, that in many places grew on the sides and
the summits of the hills.

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118 BXMIJIUICKNCISS 09 ▲

At length we issaed from the city. We had
passed a chnrch, into which people were going, and
mj companions wished to return and enter that. I
did not care to accompany them, so we separated,
and I walked on. I soon got tired of this, and sat
down in the shade at the base of a great cliff
Over the face of the cliff there was a yellowish
skin of moss, or lichen. The same was on the stones
among which I sat, at its base. Sitting there, and
looking oat npon the heated landscape, I grew des-
perately sick at heart

Oh, for power to inhale the balsamic odors of
the pine and fir I Oh, for a power to look upon the
yellow buttercups and red clover, and the green
fields where they bloom!

By and by a slight scratching sound attracted
my attention, and brought me back from an imagin-
ary journey a long way North. For a time I could
see nothing, nor could I fix the direction of the
sound; but at length, looking steadily at an angle
of the cliff, I saw a number of little diamond shaped
heads thrust out, and in each head was a very bril-
liant pair of black, bead-like eyes, that scanned me
very earnestly. I sat perfectly motionless, and soon
the heads were followed by legs, bodies, and tails,
until half a dozen, or more little lizards were re-
vealed.

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VOYAOB ABOUND THB WOBLD/ 119

If 1 made the slightest motion, they at onoe dis-
appeared, their claws rattling and scratching in the
dry, hasky moss. But they soon retamed, and
seemed desirous of making a closer acqnaintanoe.
No doubt we should have become very intimate if
time had permitted, but I remembered that the boat
would land for us at noon, and I bade my sprightly
friends good-bye, and left them, I thought, in a very
regretful mood.

At the landing I fopnd my companions, and we
were soon on board.

Going into the cabin I saw that it was decorated
with bunting, and that its inmates were unusually
animated. Dinner was over, but some still sat at
the table, and among them a fine looking, white
haired old gentleman, to whom the captain, when
he had beckoned us to him, introduced us, saying :

« My boys. Gov. Kent."

Gov. Kent, Ex-Governor of Maine, was the Amer-
ican Consul at Rio during the Taylor-Fillmore ad-
ministration. Many of the passengers were his old
political Mends and supporters. It was the day of
their triumph, and, all things conpidered, they both
wished and thought it their duty to dine him — and
they had dined him.

I have endeavored to present, in the favorable
light in which they appeared to me, all things that
^I saw in and around this tropical city.

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120 BBMIZnSCllKOXS OF ▲'

But, I remember that a day or two before our
departure, I experienced a disagreeable seusation in
one of ray great toes, and, after some ado about it,
there was found inside of the skin, on the under-
neath part of the toe, a chigoe that was about to
set up housekeeping, and raise a family.

A chigoe Is a kind of a flea, that, in the tropics,
gets under the skin and produces other chigoes with
remarkable rapidity.

I have been telling about the beauties of the
tropics. The affair of the chigoe suggests that there
are also annoyances there. Now learn about these
annoyances.

Sidney Smith says:

"The b^te roage lays the foundation of a tre-
mendous ulcer. In a moment you are covered with
ticks. Chigoes bury themselves in your flesh and
hatch a colony of young chigoes in a few hours.
They will not live together, but eveiy chigoe sets
up a separate ulcer, and has his own private portion
of pus. Flies get entry into your mouth, into your
eyes, into your nose; you eat flies, drink flies, and
breathe flies. Lizards, cockroaches, and snakes get
into the bed ; ants eat up the books ; scorpions i^ing
you on the foot. Everything bites, stings or bruises.
Every second of your existence you are wounded
by some piece of animal life that nobody has ever
seen before, except Swammerdam and Meriam. An

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YOYAOB ABOTJim THB WOBLD. 121

insect with eleven legs is swimming in y.onr teacup,
and a nondescript of nine wings is straggling in the
Bmall beer, or a caterpillar, with several dozen eyes
in his belly, is hastening over the bread and bntter.
All nature is alive, and seems to be gathering her
entomological hosts to eat you up, as you are stand-
ing* out of your coat, waistcoat, and breeches. Such
are the tropics/'

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122 ' BBHINISOJUrOXS OF «^

CHAPTER XL

THB EMPIRE OP BRAZIL. — ^DEPARTURE FROH RIO.

«HAVE read somewhere of a Jesuit in Sonth
America, who was desirous of observing the
habits of the chigoe, and who, for this purpose,
allowed them to effect a lodgement in one of his
feet, and extend their operations there, without let
or hindrance.

The desired knowledge of the insect's habits was
gained, but the foot was lost.

Such devotion to science is rare, and happily so.

After the little family in my toe had been broken
np, I was careful not to strip off my shoes and
stockings and wade on the beach, as I had pre-
viously done, when leftr to take care of the boat at
the landing.

I do not wish to leave so interesting a country
as Brazil without furnishing some information con-
cerning it, besides the very little derived from per-
sonal observation. I shall, therefore, mostly fill np
this chapter with such facts and figures on the sub-
ject as are least frequently met in print.

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VOYAGE ABOUND THB WOBLD. 123

When we think of the vast territoiiai extent, the
splendid climate, the inexhaustible magazines of gold
and precions stones, the valuable staples, the noble
rivers, and fine harbors of Brazil — when we think
of all this, and remember, that to Spain, powerful,
jealous, avaricious, and greedy of empire, belonged
the honor of its discovery, we wonder how Portur
gal, comparatively weak, though equally greedy of
territory, ever obtained a title to it.

The claim of original discovery is put forward,
but that is false.

The discovery of a part of this continent by
Spain, was, really and actually, a discovery of it
all, from Cape Horn to the frozen ocean on the north.

But beside this general, there was also a special
discovery.

Pinzon, one of the companions of Columbus, dis-
covered Brazil, in the vicinity of Cape St. Augustine,
in January, 1500, and took possession of it for Spain,
three months before its accidental discovery by Ca-
bral, the Portugese navigator.

Its possession by Portugal really seems to have
been the result of good nature and ignorance, on
the part of Spain, and perseverance on the part of
her neighbor.

The Portugese had already made some discover-
ies to the south. These discoveries, the Pope, by
the issuing of a Papal bull, had conferred upon

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124 BBHIiaSCBKCBS OV A

Portngal, and also all lands that might be dis^
covered within certain limits in that direction. ^^

After the return of Golnmbas from his first voy-
age, Ferdinand desired the Pope to confer upon
Spain, in a similar manner, the land that Colambas
had discovered, and all that he might discover in
the western seas.

It was cheerfully done.

His Holiness also defined a line which should be
a boundary line between the field of Portugal, and
the field of Spain. It was an imaginary straight line
drawn from the North Pole to the South Pole, 100
leagues to the west of the Azores and Cape de
Terde Islands. All to the west {and south alsOj if
any one can tell where that is,) of this line per-
tained to Spain. — ^

This arrangement did not suit the Portugese
King, and he did not cease to agitate the matter,
until, through the good nature of Spain, displayed
in the Treaty of Tordesillas, in 1494, the Papal line
of demarkation was removed to 370 leagues west of
the Cape de Verde Islands.

It was in this way that Spain yielded to Portui^
gal the title to a greater part of the territory now
embraced in Brazil, if Portugese should discover it.
And they did contrive to maintain Cabral's dwu^
although it was false. '

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WOBLD. 125

And now in regard to the part ignorance dis-
played in the transaction.

Had Spain suspected the richness of Brazil, in
metals and gems, it never would have permitted the
flag of Portugal to wave there.

But it was suspected by neither of the two
countries, and, while one spoiled Mexico and Peru,
and the other reaped golden harvests in the East
Indies, Brazil had no repute, and was neglected.

It was not until toward the middle of the
eighteenth century that the mineral resources of the
country were properly appreciated^

The total area of Brazil is estimated at 2,760,000
square miles.

This is more than two-thirds the whole extent
of Europe, and exceeds the whole territory of the
United States. It lies on both sides of the line, ex-
tending on the south into the temperate zone.

Probably no country in the world produces so*
great a variety of animal and vegetable life.

I will dispose of this part of the subject by
quoting a paragraph from Lieut. Hemdon. He says
of Brazil on the Amazon :

** This is the country of rice, of sarsaparilla, of
india rubber, balsam copaiba, gum copal, animal and
vegetable wax, cocoa, Brazilian nutmegs. Tonka beans,
ginger, black pepper, arrowroot, tapioca, annatto, in-
digo, sapacaia, and Brazil nuts, dyes of the gayest
I

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126 BEMIl^ISCEKCSS OF A

colors, drugs of rare virtue, variegated cabinet woods
of tbe finest grain, and susceptible of tbe bigbest
polisb.

" The forests are filled witb game, and tbe rivers
stocked witb turtle and fisb. Here dweU tbe anta,
or tbe wild cow, the peixe boi, or fisb ox, tbe slotb,
tbe ant-eater, the beautiful black tiger, the mysterious
electric eel, tbe boa-constrictor, tbe anaconda, tbe
deadly coral snake, the voracious alligator, monkeys
in endless variety, birds of tbe most brilliant plu-
mage, and insects of the strangest forms and gay-
est colors." — Lieut. Hemdon^s Meporty page 369.

Cotton and tobacco are native plants. Some
suppose tbe sugar cane to have been indigenous,
also, while others trace it, or pretend to trace it,
back to tbe old world.

Tbe coffee tree is not a native. Tbe first one
that took root in Brazilian soil, was planted at Rio
Jfaneiro, in 1754.

There is displayed in tbe arms of tbe Empire,
branches adorned witb leaves and flowers. These,
I was told, represented branches of tbe coffee tree,
and this fact is significant.

And as tbe arpis of the Empire are emblazoned
upon its flag, tbe green leaves and snowy flowers
of tbe coffee tree are seen wberever tbe flag flies.

Well may tbe Brazilians do honor to tbe coffee
plant, for it is a source of incalculable wealth to
tbe nation.

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YOTAOB ABOUND THB WORLD. 127

Brazil produoes gold, diamonds, the ruby, the
opal, the topaz, and the sapphire — produces them
in abundance. But the search for them has not
generally been skilfully conducted, nor have the con-
veniences* for mining been sufficient to produce
great results.

Therefore when the net gains of the nation from
precious metals and precious stones, are compared
with its net gains from even its coffee crop alone,
the comparison is all in favor of agriculture.

And this would still be the case, were the great-
est skill, and the most perfect apparatus, and the
greatest amoant of labor, applied to the discovery
and collection of gold and diamonds. Agricultursd
products are. of all products, and everywhere, the
greatest sources of wealth.

From the Sugar Loaf, at the entrance of the
bay, to the anchorage, is about four miles. The
bay here is two miles wide. From the city to the
head of the bay is fourteen miles, or eighteen from
the entrance. The greatest width at any point is
twelve miles. It is one of the best, and most secure
harbors in the world, as well as one of the most
beautiful and most easy of access. The armed ships
of ail the great maritime powers are always to be
found here. Great quantities of powder are burnt
in saluting. There was a roar of cannon nearly all
tbe time.

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128 ^ BXHINISCBNGSS OF A

The Palace of San Christovao, the residenoe of
the Emperor, has a very beantiful and romantic
location, a few miles to the west of the city.

The supply of water, which is abundant and of
an excellent quality, comes by an aqueduct from
Corcovado, " the broken backed," a mountain three
or four miles to the south-west.

We lay only a little distance from the Island
and Fortress of Villegagnon. You will probably
know, or guess, that that is a French name. The
man whose name it bears was Nicholas Durand de
Villegagnon. Fidelity in this man would have given
Brazil to Frenchmen and Protestantism. His treach-
ery gave it to Portugal and Romanian.

An addition of one was made to our ship's com-
pany at Rio. The self-destruction of the old steward
had caused a vacancy in the culinary department,
and this additional man was shipped to fill it. Be-
ing especially a cook, however, he was stationed in
the galley, and not the pantry. Though a negro,
and rather a black one, his personal appearance was
quite prepossessing. He was small in stature, finely
proportioned, and bore always a very pleasing ex-
pression upon his countenance. According to his
story, his home was in Baltimore. He had come
firom that city to Rio in a barque. I do notr^nem-*
ber why he left her. He was rather destitute, and
before entering upon his. duties, desired a month's

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YOYA0B ABOinn> THB WORLD. 129

advance pay, and liberty to go on shore and make
some purchases. To provide against desertion on
Ms part, my brother was sent with him.

They proceeded to a ship chandler's, and 'the
new cook made purchases as follows:

Item, A glass of gin.

*' A bar of soap.

** A glass of gin.

** Half a dosen needles.

** A glass of gin.

•« Half a pound of linen thread.

** A glass of gin.

At this Stage of the proceedings my brother in-
terfered in such a decided manner, that gin was
omitted until th6 purchases were all made. Then
the worthy African remarked that in Baltimore,
where he was brought up, when a man had bought
a bill of goods of a merchant, the merchant gen-
erally treated. The hint was sufficient.

So much caicse (five glasses), could not help pro-
dncing some effect The effect was in direct pro-
portion, it being six hours of boisterous drunkenness,
and seventy-two hours of consequent sickness.

Nov. 16th, in the morning, we hove the anchor
up, and departed from Rio. It was a regulation of
the port that all foreign vessels going out should
set their ensigns at the fore, and give a password

to the guard at the Castle of Santa Cmz. A day

\ , ,

Q

T07ftc« Arouid ih« World. ^

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180 BBIONISCEKOXS OF A

or two before, an English brig, in starting, hoisted
her colors as usual at the main peak.

She had not fanned along far with the light
breeze, before bang, went a gun from Villegagnon.
No notice was taken of it Two more were fired
with the same effect, or, rather, want of effect.
Probably the disposition to fire a shot was not
wanting in the fortress, but it was not gratified, for
some reason or other. Afler the third discharge,
a boat pulled off and. boarded the brig, and her flag
was then transferred to the foremast head.

Wo were able to both comply with, and to
violate the regulation. We had two ensigns. One
was displayed at the fore, and the other took its
accustomed place at the spanker gaff.

The password given us was, when translated into
English, "The Brazilians are brave."

By the way, the opinion then generally enter-
tained by foreigners was that the Brazilians were
not brave. They must modify that opinion now, for
they certainly are proving themselves brave in their
sanguinary war with Paraguay.

Our password was written out upon a piece of
paper, and when we were abreast the Castle, the
captain roared it out through his trumpet, giving it
such accents as suited his fancy. The guard allowed
it was all right, and waved us along.

Our demeanor and language had been very re^

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VOYAGE ABOTTlBrD THE WOBLD. 181

spectfnl, both when going in by, and when coming
out by the Castle of Santa Cruz. The power of
the garrison to resent an insult was very apparent ;
and men in that condition often feel insulted when
they would not otherwise.

But "familiarity breeds contempt.'* Veteran
shipmasters in the Rio trade have a great contempt
for all these customs.

Ten years after our departure from the harbor
of Rio, my brother entered it again as mate of a
barque. In passing Santa Cruz, he said, the same
soldier (for anything he knew to the contrary), using
the same words, and having the same execrable
accent, hailed —

"What sheep is that?"

"60 to the devil," replied the captain.

My brother was astonished and alvmed. But
the soldier was unruffled.

" Vare well," said he. " Where* you from ?"

" And shake yourself," answered the captain, con-
tinuing his inelegant quotation.

"Vare well Where you bound?"

"You blackguard," responded the captain in
conclusion.

"Vare well," (polite wave of the hand,) "I tank
you, sar."

The soldier was repeating, parrot fashion, what
he had been taught He did not understand a single

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word of English, and of this the captidn was w^
aware.

I said that when my father had given the pass-
word, the sentinel on the rampart admitted its cor-
rectness, and waved us along.

Bat the wind failing jast then, we were quite
unable to comply. Sea after sea threw us in, until
I could have tossed a stone into the grinning muz-
zles of the guns. It seemed as if we muct anchor,
or go ashore. But it did not come to that. There
was a powerful undertow that impelled us off as
much as the sea urged us on.

At length an air^ of wind came to our relie£
The sails left off threshing the masts, and swelling
out, steadied the ship and urged her forward.

The Castle receded; the wide muzzles of the
guns grew more and more diminutive, and finally
disappeared.

The land was like a dark cloud when night closed
around as, and out of the darkness it came never
again to greet our eyes.

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YOTAOE ABOUNB THE WOBLD. 133

CHAPTER XI

TBOPICAL BIBDS AND FISUES — THE

10 JANEIRO lies in 22^^ 54' south latiiude,
and a few hours sail carries us beyond the
tropic of Capricorn.

Before leaving the torrid zone behind entirely,
I will hastily describe some of the birds and fishes
that we encountered in crossing it.

Some of these are peculiar to the region, while
Others are confined to no particular locality.

The whale is an inhabitant of nearly all parts
of all seas.

It is not necessary that I should take time to
descnbe an animal so often, and so minutely de-
scribed; but, inasmuch as I asked the young peo-
ple in a former chapter, whether the whale was a
fish, or not, I will say a few words in that
direction.

The whale is not properly a fish. It breathes
.pure air. A fish breathes air only as it exists in
water. The whale is warm-blooded. A fish is cold-
blooded. The whale brings forth its young alive

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n

and suckles them witli true milk. It is classed ir
naturalists with mammals, and considered snob^^ u
much ab the horse or the elephant.

The tropic bird is, as its name would imply,*
peculiar to that region. In size it is somewhat
larger than the common pigeon. Its color is white,
variegated by occasional black places upon the
back, and upon the ends of the larger feathers of
the wings. Its bill, legs and feet are red, the lat-
ter exceedingly so.

The most striking thing about it, however, is its
tail, which consists of two very long, straight, and
narrow feathers, just alike in all respects.

When it poised itself far up overhead, as it often
did, it was not altogether unlike a musical note
written on the blue sky.

The booby, which is encountered here, and for
some distance beyond the tropics in each direction,
is in some respects a most remarkable bird. Its
invincible stupidity gained for iu its undesirable
name. No *' fresh salt" to throw on the tail is
necessary to effect its capture. Whether you
meet it on the rocks on land, or climb to it on tha
spars' of a ship at sea, it is not alarmed at your
approach, and you may kick it in the one case, and
cuff it in the other, but all in vain to drive it It
will stand its grounds while life and strength re-

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>0TA<3X ABMUD TKB WOBLD. 185

main. This peculiarity of the booby conduces to
the benefit of man. It is a law of nature, or a
proyision of Providence in nature that there,
(whether it is comprehensible or incomprehensible
to him,) ^^all things shall work together for good''
to man.

Men, xompelled by cruel circumstances to navi-
gate the wide ocean in frail boats, and destitute of
water and provisions, have b'een saved from death,
or from an alternative worse than death — eating
each other — ^by this wonderful tameness of the
booby. Lieutenant BHgh and his companions, set
adrift in mid ocean by the mutineers of the Bounty,
say that when they were in a most deplorable
state, they caught some boobies that flew very near
to them. These they killed and gave their blood
to those who were most distressed for want of food,
while the bodies with the entrails^ beak and feet,
they divided among the others.

This occurred more than once; and said Lieu-
tenant Bligh, ^'Providence seemed to be relieving
our wants in an extraordinary manner."

This case of the Lieutenant and his companions
has often been paralleled in the records of the sea,
and more than paralleled.

The color of the booby is a dull brown. Li
length it is about two and a half feet Its bill is

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long and sharp at the extremity, and large where
it is joined to the head.

I remember very distinctly the first booby I saw.
The sun had gone down and it was growing dusk-
ish when some one discovered a dark object aloft
on one of the spars. The mate, who was on deck,
at once declared it to be a booby, and sent one of
the boys aloft to catch it There was a short
struggle when the boy reached it, and seised it by
the legs. The booby protested by voice, and by
deed against capture, but was obliged to yield to
superior force. As an evidence of his unwillingness
to be taken, however, he inflicted two or three se-
vere wounds upon the boy's hands. But at no time
did it manifest a disposition to fly away.

The ship's company generally paid their respects
to it, and then it was thrown into the air. Instead
of flying away as one would suppose, it alighted
again aloft, where it was permitted to spend the
night in peace.

Unlike human boobies, who do not display much
ability in any direction, this feathered booby is an
indnstrious and dexterous fisherman, and always
contrives to provide well for himself and family.

The frigate bird, a large black-looking bird,
with a forked tiul and an inmiense spread of wings,
is generally found in the haunts of the booby* '

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YOYAGB ABOUHB THE WORLD. l^V

They are called fiigate birds, because like men-
of war, they spread a broad clue and. are very
swift in flight The resemblence ends there, how-
ever, for the acts of the frigate bird are altogether
unjustifiable. He victimizes the poor booby. He
lies in wait for him when he is returning from
his fishing excursions, and falls aboard of him, and
bumps him and thumps him with his wings, and
pecks him with his bill, until he disgorges his hiu*d-
eamed dinner, which the frigate bird, quitting him,
catches in its descent.

Whether the booby disgorge voluntarily to save
a whole skin, or whether it is an invohmtary act
resulting from the shocks he receives, we shall never
know certainly until our means of communicating
with animals is improved.

Is not this play of frigate bird and booby often
enacted by men in communities ?

The stormy petrel, or mother Gary's chicken,
to which I have already alluded as an object of
superstition to the sailor, is not peculiar to any
region, but a true cosmopolitan. These birds, are
in size between a sparrow and a robin. In their
flights they resemble martins. Their backs are
brown, bellies white, tails short and forked, and
wings long and pointed.

Their beaks bend suddenly at the tips, making
a short, sharp hook.

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They keep at sea generally, but nevertheless go
to land sometimes.

They frequent one of the Western Islajids. The
people kill great numbers of them for their oil. So
very fat are they that, it it said, the Islanders jnift
draw a wick through their bodies, and it becomes
so saturated with liquid fat as to form a lamp with-
out anything else. The same thing is said to be
done at Faroe Islands, away up between Scotland
and Ireland. These little birds fly about ships, com-
ing fearlessly close aboard. Their object is the one
great object of all living creatures, viz : to procure
food. Much is thrown overboard from a ship each
day that they can appropriate in that way,

They seem to enjoy a gale of wind, and clam-
ber around among the waves in a way that indi-
cates great happiness. Sometimes they enter a
wave and are hid from Tiew for a little while.

It is very natural to pass from a couFideration
of birds to a consideration of fishes by the way of
the flying-fish, which partakes of the nature of
both.

The flying-fish and the flying-squirrel are anom-
alies in nature.

They might serve as steps to let us down to
mermen and mermaidens in the water, and Count
Castlenau's men with tails on the land, if ever it
should prove that there were such creatures. I

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Y0YA.OS ABOUKD THE WOBLD. 13^

suppose these chimeras seem no more impossible to
us than winged-fish and flying-sqairrels have seemed,
and do seem to many minds. Such incredulity is
amusingly expressed in Cooper^s Pathfinder, where
the mariner, Cap. with his flying-^A, and the
Pathfinder with his fiy'iiig-sqtUrrelj more than suspect
each other of wholesale deception.

The fiying-fish, is shaped much like other fish,
and is in length, all the way from five to twenty
inches. It has a blue and mottled back like the
mackerel, and a white belly. The membranaceous
pectoral fins, the wings of the flying-fish, are about
half the length of the body. They are attached to
the shoulders of the fish by uncommonly strong
muscles. The flight of this fish is several* hundred
feeti There is a diflerence of opinion among nat-
uralists as to whether these pectoral fins are used
as parachutes or wings.

When cooked, the flying-fish is very attractive
food.

The motive of this fish in flying through the
air, is not always the same. Sometimes it is to
escape from other fishes that prey upon them, and
sometimes it must certainly be for the enjoyment
of the thing.

One sight awakens peculiar emotion. It is to
see the flying-fish and the mother Gary's chicken
;exchanging elements. The fish rising and cleaving

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the air, and the bird disappearing in the slanting
side of a wave like a swallow entering his hole in
a bank.

Flying-fish frequently fly on board of vessels,
not purposely, but accidentally, in their endeavors
to escape from the jaws of some pursuing enemy.
They have many enemies, and it was no rare thing
to witness their pursuit and destruction by the co-
ryphene, (commonly called the dolphin,) and the
albacore.

A variety of the flying-fish is said to be found
sometimes in the Mediterranean with four wings be«
hind the gills, instead of two. Their bodies are of
a bright violet color. They are seen but rarely.

The coryphene is more widely known as th«
dolphin^ while the true dolphin is called a por-
poise.

The head of the coryphene is short and like
that of the cat-fish, without the cat-fish's malig-
nant expression; the body is deep and thin. The
dorsal fin extends fromi the back of the head to
the tail. The tail is prodigiously forked. These
fish vary in length from two to five feeti They
display a variety of colors; on the back and iddes
a bluish green with reflections of azure and gold,
and beneath that a yelldir with bright blue tints.
Their fins are also brilliantly colored.

They are always seen in the tropics, swimming

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YOYAGB ABOCfHD THE WOBLD. 141

in. company with v^sds. They are frequently ta-«
k^i) sometimes upon a hook, and sometimes with
the grains.

The flesh of the coryphene is generally eaten,
ihoagh it has sometimes been fouDd poisonous.

A test of its wholesomeness is to pat a piece of
silver with it when it is cooked ; if the silver is not
tarnished it is all right.

The true dolphin and the porpoise differ but
little. The dolphin^s jaws are lengthened out into
a long beaky not unlike that of a bird. The dol-
phin keeps in blue water; the porpoise is more a
shoal water animal.

Both belong to the order of cataoeons mammals
as well as the' whale, and are therefore not prop'*
erly fishes.

But all this is rather irrelevant, and with a few
more words I will change the subject To have a
just conception of these birds, and fishes — ^particu-
larly the fishes — one must see them living and mov-
ing in their native elements. Death robs them of
many of their peculiar attractions.

No method of preservation, however excellent,
unless life is involved in it, can preserve in these
fishes that brilliancy of color that varies with every
emotion. And could life Ute preserved, there would
still be something wanting. Like gems that require
the proper setting to bring out all their beaaties,

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the ooryphene, the labacore and the bonito, require
to be set in a bine sea and tinder a vertical sim,
to bring ont all their beauties.

And it is also very hard for any one, without
seeing it, to get a jast conception of that deep
water, near the surface of which these fishes swim.

In a calm, one can look far down into its bine
depths. It seems filled with light. Under the
counters of the ship the little rudder fish dart in
and out Coryphenes, sometimes singly, sometimes
in pairs, and sometimes half a dozen together, swim
slowly into view. Their deliberate motions show
you, one by one, all the colors of the rainbow.
Alarm them, and their quicker motions blend all
those colors into one. The eye beholds, as it were,
continuous explosions of brilliant colors under the

surface of the water.

«

- Such exhibitions, constantly occurring, break the
monotony of long sea voyages, and render what
might otherwise be tiresome, interesting and in-
structive.

Our black cook, when sober, we found, was not
at all the same man that he was when drunk. Un-
der the first influences of five glasses of gin his
volubility was amazing. When sober he hardly
ever spoke except to answer a question.

Then, thotigh very respectful in his tone, he used
monosyllables only, unless more words were abso--

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YOYAGB ABOUKD THB WOBLD. 14S

lutely necessary. He was also very neat and very
industrious. He had the habits of the bee, but did
not hum and buzz like that model insect.

I have introduced this colored individual, not
because color is the fashion now-a-days, but because
where others were faithless, he alone was faithful

His feA hardly left the deck from the time he
brought the five glasses of gin over the rail at Rio,
until at Battery Wharf in Boston, he placed upon
the table the last dinner we ate on Board. His
only failing was a desire to illustrate the old say-
ing, " when rum (gin in this case) is in, wit is out ;"
but opportunities for doing this did not often occur.

He had qaite an agreeable surprise when we
were a few days out from Rio.

A passenger, one of those individuals who mani-
fest an intense interest in the aiiairs of others, and
who are unhappy if any body is near them whose
history they do not know, said to him:

"Doctor, were you ever a slave?',

(A black cook is always dubbed Doctor, on ship
board.)

"Yes," answered the Doctor,

"Did you run away?"

" No."

"Then you are lawfully free, hey?"

"Yes."

A pause, and then from the passenger,

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144 junm ii BO MroBS of a

**HaYe you yoar free papers about you?"

" No.'

Another panse, and then.

"Where are they?"

"I loss dem in Rio," the Doctor said this with
a sigh of regret.

At this, a sailor, who was within ear^ot, tamed
qaickly around, and having scanned the Doctor's
person, asked,

"What is your name?"

"Henry Brown."

"What," said the sailor, "will you give me to
get your papers again ? "

"It's no use to talk," answered the cook,
mournfully shaking his head, "it's gone."

" You just wait a minute," said the man, diving
down into the forecastle. When he returned, he
had a document in his hand, which he handed the
Doctor, saying,

"Did you ever see that before?"

The little black man was excited.

"Where you get dis?" he said,

"Looks natural, does it?"

"How you come by dis, I say?"

The man explained. A soldier in the streets of
Bio offered to sell it to him, and when he would
not buy, gave it to him.

In such a way, after it had been lost, came

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YOTAGB ABOinn> TBS. WOSLD. 145'

Henry Brown's oertifioate of freedom back to him
again. The passenger had one more qaestion, and
he put it.

** Ain't you glad you've got it again," he asked.

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146 XBHIVISOSVOBS OF ▲

CHAPTER XIII.

BIRD CATCHING. — FI8UING. — ENTER THE PACIFIC,

RID AY, December 7, we were in south lat
itude 47° 40'. Here we experienced a ver^
heavy gale from the south-west. For twenty-fooi
hours the ship was hove to under the main spencer,
a small, stout, fore aifd aft sail on the mainmast.

We had seen nothing like it before — no wind so
fierce, and no waves so high. Down between the
seas it was calm and comparatively still, but when
the ship was lifted up to their summits, the mingled
roar of wind and waves was appalling to ears un-
accustomed to it. The ship behaved admirably,
proving herself an excellent sea boat. She was quite
crank, and on this account lay to better. The wind
upon her naked spars and rigging was alone suffi-
cient to press her lee gunwale into the water, and
prevent her from rolling to windward.

Toward noon the gale abated some. The close
reefed topsail, reefed foresail, and foretopmast stay-
sail were set, and the ship began to forge ahead
slowly.

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VOTAOB AROUND THB WORLD. 147

We had exchanged the tropic bird for the alba*
tross; but the stormy petrels still gave us the
pleasure of their company, and had introduced to us
in addition, the giant petrel, the cape pigeon, and
other members of the petrel family, their kindred.

By the way, petrel is said to be derived from
the diminutive of Peter, The stormy petrel, with
outstretched, but motionless wings, runs upon the
surface of the water, and this habit, by its resem-
blance to the well known attempt of Peter on Lake
Genncsaret, fastened upon them and their fcpecics,
among Christians, the scriptural name they bear.

Many Southern Atlantic birds were about us. At
one time an albatross would be nearest. Round about
us he would hover, on his ample wings, now dart-
ing in advance, and now settling in our wake astern.
Then he would poise himself right above us, and
make a deliberate survey of the quarter deck, and
then whirl away to leeward. At another time some
member of the petrel family would be the inspector.
Often they would all corne together, and the air
would seem alive with their swift wings. Whatever
was thrown overboard they darted doMn upon with
the greatest rapidity.

Their voracity suggested to us (or .revived our
knowledge of the fact), that they might be captured
by baiting a hook and trolling it astern. Accord-
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148 BBMIKIlSOBKdSS OF A

ingly a line was brought up, prepared, and then
veered away.

Immediately the bait, a piece of pork, caught
the eye of a hungry albatross. A few sweeps of
his broad wings was sufficient to place him within
reach of it; and then, partly alighting, and partly
hovering, he thrust forward his neck and seized the
pork with his bill.

True to its office, the barbed steel pierced through,
and the free bird of the ocean was a captive. When
drawn on board, je was released as gently as pos-
sible from the hook, and placed upon tlie deck.
Such birds are unable to rise and fly from a ship^s
deck, therefore no one stood near enough to him to
ren ler him uneasy. He was awed not one whit by
the presence of his captors. His large round eye
was at once mild and dauntless. His whole bearing
was kingly and graceful.

The albatross is the largest sea bird known. It
has a pale yellow bill, a gray head, and a white
body, marked on the back by a few black bands.

The largest one of which I have seen any record,
was shot off the Cape of Good Hope. It measured
seventeen and a half feet from tip to tip of the wings.

The line having been veered out a second time,
was soon hauled in again with a new specimen at
the end of it. This was a bird smaller than the
albatross, but of the same shape. It was white

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TOTAGB ABmmD THE WOMLD. 149

upon the breast asd forward part of the neck, and
otherwise of a dark brown oolor. A child of the
ocean it nadeniably was, yet when it had been
placed for a short time upon the deck it showed
unmistakable signs of sea-sickness. The bird actually
Tomited. Doubtless it was the motion of the ship,
in which it was compelled to participate, that caused
it to be so painfully afflicted.

Subsequently a second and third albatross were
caught. The latter was very large and powerfuL
As soon as he was hooked, he thrust his broad
wings down edgewise into the water, determined
to resist to the utmost all attempts to draw him on
board. Had not the line been new and strong, and
the hook of good steel, he would hare escaped.

But the tackfing^was all firm, and the hook had
a strong hold upon him. Willing hands manned
the line, and slowly, foot by foot, the brave bird
was drawn toward the ship. The whole surface of
his wings, many square feet, all Cblivej resisted pow*
erfuliy, and then, too, the ship was moving along
at iiLe rate of three or four miles an hour.

Suddenly the resistance of the bird ceased ; his
wings rose upward, out of the water, and he was
easily drawn over the remaining distance to the
ship. He was dead. His neck, unable to bear the
unaccustomed and tremendous strain, broke. There
^ was but one feeling in reference to this bird among

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his captors, and that was genuine respect for hinu
His love of the freedom wherein he was bom, his
determined hostility to captivity, his consistent and
manly resistance even unto death, struck a sympa-
thetic cord in all our breasts.

He measured ten feet from the tip of one wing
to the tip of the other. His bill was preserved by
my brother, and now ornaments a shelf in the Mu-
seum of a New Hampshire Academy.

With the capture of this bird our fishing ended
for that time. The birds on deck were picked up,
tossed into the air, and told to look out for them*
selves.

^ This they were glad to do, and they manifested
their joy in eccentric flights.

On the l^th we were becalmed, about a hun-
dred miles to the westward of the Falkland Islands.
A discussion arose in regard to the depth of the
water, and to decide it, the order was given to pass
along the lead and line. Everything was soon in
readiness and the lead . thrown over. Down it went,
exciting some wonder, probably, among the inhabi*
tants of the deep, as to what it was, whence it
came, whither it was going, and why it had such
a long tail. What inquiries it did raise down ia
the watery realm beneath us, we could not know, and
indeed did not care. We sent it to seek the bot«
tom, and like a faithful servant it found it, sixty*

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TOTAGB ABOUND THB WOBLD. 151

two fathoms down under us. One passenger, who
was an old mariner, proposed that it be hauled up
and armedy aud then sent down a second time to
ascertain the character of the bottom it had discov-
ered. Another passenger, who was not a mariner,
inquired whether it would be armed with firearms,
or steeL For his part he thought powder would
be of little or no service under water.

Well, the lead was armed— not with pistol or
dirk-knife, but with bar aoapj stuck into a cavity
in its bottom, and sent down again. When it was
hauled up the soap was coated with dark gray
sand.

Then it was proposed to fish. Many laughed,
and were skeptical in regard to the existence here
of fish that swim near the bottom.

The idea of fishing prevailed, however. One
brought hooks and attached them, another visited
the harness-cask and abstracted a piece of pork,
and a, third hurried for a knife to cut bait withi
When all things were ready, the lead was cast over.
As soon as it was down one individual took hold
of the line, drew it up until he judged the baits to
be the requisite distance from the bottom, and then
impatiently awaited a bite. He waited as vainly as
impatiently. He put in practice the arts of the wary
fisherman. He gently drew the line up a short dis-
tance, and as gently lowered it down again. This

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was intended to make a dazsling display of the
baits before the eyes of the- fishes. That failings
he snddenly drew up several feet of the line, say-
ing, by this act, to any fish that might be dallying
with the bait, as the auctioneer says to the human
fish about his bait, ^^ going ^ going.^^ All a hoax.
This everlasting ** going — going," is only to foree a
bite. When ^^gone^^ is cried the nominal biter is
always biten.

His arts all failing, the first fisherman, discour-
aged, resigned the line to another. The same story
over again. This second man began hopefully, con-
tinued impatiently, and, by-and-by, gave up the
line willingly. The same result followed trials by a
third man and a fourth man, and then the line was
fastened to a pin, and left to its own reflection — if
lines ever do reflect.

In about one hour there were signs of wind
abroad, and the order was given to haul ift
the line. A man laid hold of it and hauled in.
When he had about half accomplished his task,
he stopped, held the line off from the side, struck
an attitude of intense attention, and pretty sooob
declared that he believed he had a fish.

Others proposed to hold the line, and ^ee what
impression they would get, but to this the man
would not consent, and himself pulled away as if
for dear life.

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YOTA6B ▲BOtnUD CTX WOBLD. ISlS

All eyes were now in requisition^ tmd if inani-
mate matter could blash, the water would certainly
have done so. .

Fathom after fathom of line came swiftly up, and
lay dripping upon the deck.
' " There he is 1 "

"There's a fishl"

"WeU, I declare!"
Such exclamations were frequent^ when the lead
appeared, and below it a dull whitish substance,
writhing about in the water.

It was a dog-fish, {Sgiualtsa AcatUMiu.)

The signs of a breeze apparent, when the line
was hauled up, proved to be genuine indications.

A brisk wind sprung up from the north-west.
ThB sails were trimmed, and our course laid for
Ci^e Horn. Gradually the wind increased. The
log-book shows first one knot (or one mile per hour),
then two, then three, four, six, seven, eight, ten and
eleven.

Much satisfaction was manifested by all on board,
and many sanguine spirits rubbed their hands con-
stantly and walked about exclaiming:

"What a glorious wind! We shall double the
Cape in the twinkling of an eye I ''

As the long day was drawing to a close, the
rare cry of "land ho!'' was heard aloit I climbed
up the fore-rigging, and as my head rose above the

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fore-yard, I saw, far sway on the starboard bow a
group of dark objects nestled down on the turbu-
lent water. It was the northern end of Staten
Land, and fifty miles or more distant from us.
Staten Land is a small island, separated from
Tierra del Fuego by the straits of Le Maire, At
its southern extremity the southern cpntinent of
America curves to the eastward. Staten Land
seems like a piece smitten off from that extremity.

It was not dark at that season of the year,
where we were, until after nine o'clock, and then
it could not be called dark; it was only a deep
twilight

At two o'clock in the morning, the low, discon-
nected objects I had seen from the fore-yard, had
grown to one tall headland. It was Cape St John,
the north-eastern extremity of Staten Land, and
bore from us then south-south-west distant about
eighteen miles. At noon it was away on the north-
em board.

The atmosphere was far from being clear, and,
even when nearest to it, the glass gave no better
view of the land than the naked eye. I looked
at it with interest, but had not the keen relish for
it that I had for Fernando Noronha. The charm
that held me then was broken. A vast number
of birds were flying between us and the shore, but
they were too distant to distinguish peculiarities.

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VOYAGE ABOUKD THE WORLD. 155

" We shall round the Cape in a twinkling," had
been a hundred times said. Another instance of
man's fallibility. At noon the wind began to lessen.
At two p. M., it was calm, and a fine rain fall-
ing. At three, a puff struck us from the south,
and at four, it blew a gale from that direction, ac-
companied by hail and sleet The ship was put
under close reefed topsails and came up south-
east by south on the starboard tack.

The great disappointment of all was somewhat
softened by the fine run of the previous day. In
the twenty-four hours we had sailed over two hun-
dred miles.

Six days succeeded before we were fwrly into
the Pacific. The wind was ahead all the time,
but never, after the first day, did it blow very
hard. The sea was regular and never high. I
do not find the temperature anywhere noted, but
you can judge about what midsummer weather is
in latitude 51^.

The sky was much overcast. A sombre, gray
mantle lined the firmament, and the sun was able
to exhibit himself but rarely. We went south as
far as the fifty-eighth parallel of latitude.

Cape Horn is a perversion of Cape Hoom.
Shouten, a Dutch navigator, in 1616, christened
this bleak, inhospitable, tail-end of the^ Americafl,
Ckxpe Soornj after his native town in Holland.

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Gape Horn is a sort of focus, the point of con-
vergence of thousands of courses.

It was not strange therefore to see ressels here,
although we had seen them but rarely before.
There were in sight at one time two ships, one
barque and a brig.

December 22, we took a fine breeze from the
eastward. We were then well into the Pacific
Ocean, and our backs fairly turned upon the gray
sombre region of the far south. As a horseman,
who has been carefully picking his way along a
rough and insecure path, guiding his beast with
nerved arms and wary eye, gives him the rein on
entering a smooth and level road and gallops on-
ward with a joyous and secure feeling, so we
relaxed at once from our Cape Horn watchfulness
and preparation, and with eager alacrity send
royal yards aloft.

The morning of Christmas was calm. Several
vessels were in sight. At five o^clock a boat boarded
us from the ship Harriet Rockwell, of Boston,
ninety-seven days out from Boston, bound to San
Francisco, and having on board ninety-eight pas*
sengers.

When ships long out meet at sea, and it is con*
yenient to visit from one to the other, it is an
honor to humanity to see in what a warm and hos-
ntable manner the visitors are received. They are

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VOYAGB ABOUND THK WOBLD. 157

N

taken by the hand eagerly and welcomed to the
best that the ship can afford. The colcf dignity of
the shore, and its distant politeness are not known.
And why should the precious time be wasted in
ceremonies? Mankind are eminently social. Few
were ever intended for hermits. But a ship while
at sea is m a certain sense a hermitage.
Her mariners, shut out from the rest of the
world, and meeting with but little material from
which to make talk, by-and-by lose their relish for
conversation with each other. At such a time a
new man is a God-send, in a practical sense, and it
is also the part of self-interest as well as of hu-
manity to welcome him warmly.

At noon a breeze sprang up from the north-
west While lying with the main topsail to the
mast for the Harriet Rockwell to come up, the brig
Oriental, of Machias, Me., jessed us. When their
ship was abeam of us, the Rockwellians got into
their boat and departed. Our sails were then filled,
and we all proceeded on together.

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158 BBMINISCBNO£S OF A

CHAPTER X±Y.

A TBIAL OF SPEED — VALPARAISO— THE NOBTH STAB
— A BLACK EYE — ARRIVAL AT SAN FBAN CISCO.

T the close of the la t chapter we were stand-
ing in on a wind towards the western coast
of Patagonia, in company with the ship Harriet
Rockwell and the brig Oriental.

They soon tacked to the westward and by-and-
by, we followed their example, but not until they
were out of sight. In the night the wind hauled
to the south-west, and increased to a gale. We wore
ship to the north and reduced our canvass until
only the close reefed main topsail, reefed foresail,
fore-topmast staysail, and main spencer remained.

At daylight a barque was just visible on the
weather quarter, and a brig, the Oriental about six
miles astern. It M'as soon evident that both were
gaining upon us. At eight o'clock the barque was
abeam, and the brig only a mile astern and right
in our wake. The brig was making the water fly
finely; great torrents going over her foreyard.

It was rather too mortifying to be outsailed in

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TOYAOB ABOUND THX WOBLD. 159

that manner, and soon the order came to make sail.
The close reefed fore and mizzen topsails, reefed
mainsail, jib, main-topmast staysail, and spanker
were set The wind was abeam, and the ship ran
in the trough of the sea. How she did go when
the extra sail was set I I remember how an old
sailor expressed it. He was cuddled up under the
break of the poop, to windward, chewing his quid,
and complacently spitting great volumes of juice
out upon the deck to be quickly swept away by
the torrents of water that flew over the rail.

Another tar, having watched his chance so as to
escape a wetting, darted fron{ the shelter of the
forward house, and joined him. As he crouched
by bis side, he said :

" The old craft is doing her duty."

"Yes," was the reply, "«A6 is getting up and
naturally howHng.^^

At dinner time it was necessary for one to hold
himself to the table, and his plate upon it. The
dishes leaped up^ bodily out of the racks. One
butter plate, having been thrown upon the deck,
canted up on its edge, rolled quite around the
table, and then darted through an open door into
a stateroom, where it came down, right side up,
in a corner. The " monkey," an earthen vessel to
hold water, suspended from a beam above the
table, carried on riotously, sometimes swinging

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190 BSKOnSCENCSS OP A

with long swings fore and stity sometimes jomping
up and down with short spasmodic jmnps, and some-
times whirling swiftly aronnd like a top.

On deck one was more nncomfortable Uian be-
low. The water was no respecter of persons. As
many seas came over the weather quarter as oyer
the weather bow.

One wave appalled me. I was standing by the
main rigging, and holding on with one hand. Sud-
denly a shade fell npon the deck. I looked quickly
up, and saw just to windward, only a few yards
o£^ a great blue wave, a perpendicular wall of
water, towering up higher than our topsail yards.
It seemed to totter, and I expected to see the whole
overhanging mass tumble upon our deck. Instinc-
tively I tightened my hold upon the raging. My
heart seemed lo les4[> into my mouth. But quickly
I felt the ship ascending, steadily and swiftly, and
the next moment the dreaded wave, partly &llen
down, was beneath us. It is wonderful how even
the most misshapen stick of wood will take care of
itself in the roughest sea. When one would expect
to see it submerged, or hurled end over end, it will
rise and fall as gently as if careful hands controlled
it. A good ship, skillfully managed, will bid defiance
to almost anything short of miraculous power.

We now far outstripped our companions. At
noon they had dropped back to their old relative

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TOTACtB AXeUlTD THS WOBLD. 161

I>08HioB in the mormog. Three hooni afterwards
they were both out of sight, astern. Haying " done
enough for glory," we shortened sail

On the second day of January, 1850, the chains
were shaokeled to the anchors, and other prepara-
tions made for a short sojourn at Valparaiso, Chili.

At ten o'clock on the night, of the fourth the
ship was hove to to wait for daylight At four o'clock
in the morning we filled away and made all sail.

Before the sun rose the Andes were viuble,
their snowy summits bathed in light. In about an
hour the coast line came to view. At noon the light-
house on the Point of Angels was plainly to be seen.
The wind freshened and there were occasionally violent
squalls. The light sails were therefore forled, and we
ran in under the Uiree topsails and jib. At half
past two we rounded the Point of Angels, which
forms the western part of the harbor, and saw sud-
denly, right before us, the city and the shipping.

The bay, or harbor, of Valparaiso makes in to
the south, and is semicircular in form. It is com-
modious, and well protected from all winds except
the north. The city rises round the bay like an
amphitheatre. In its rear are high hills haying a
dty and desolate aspect.

Valparwso lies in 31° south latitude. The fruits
of the middle States of this country are produced
there. I had the pleasure of again seeing apples,

T^aff« AtpnaA tb« World. * *

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162 BBMIHI8CBKCX8 OF ▲

and tasting tbem, and this w<m a pleasure, although
on account of the season they were old. This part
of Chili produces an excellent quality of wheat, of
which large quantities are exported.

Ever since the country achieved its independence,
Valparaiso has been growing in importance, and is
now the second city on the Pacific coasU

While we were lying there, a street fight oc-
curred between the police force and about two
hundred English and American men-of-warsmen,
who, on this occasion, made common cause.

The tumult was audible on board the vessels m
the harbor, and with the glass I could distinguish
the brickbats and stones as they flew through the
air. One policeman was killed and others badly
hurt There was great excitement in consequence of
this, and it had not subsided when we left

Along shore to the north two or three miles
was the place where Com. Porter fought the Essex
so gallantly in the last war with England — a fight
in whicl\ Admiral Farragut, the great naval hero
of our civil war, participated as midshipman.

Point of Angels is noted for the fierce squalls
that leap down from it, and tear along the surface
of the water. It was while hugging this point in
order to pass to windward of the English frigate
outside, that a squall carried away the Essex's main
topmast, and left her at the mercy of her enemies.

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TOYAGB ABOUND THB WORLD. 163

Jan. 11th, at noon, we got under way, and
stood off to sea from Valparaiso. Before night
everything was snag — the anchors stowed and the
chains unbent and put below. We had on board
six new passengers, Frenchmen.

For twenty-five days we ran off before the
south-east trade wind, sighting on the fourteenth of
the month the Island of Ambrose. St Felix and
Ambrose are two small, unimportant islands lying
near the tropic of Capricorn, in 80** west longitude.
All the time the weather was exceedingly pleasant
It was seized upon as a favorable opportunity to
set up the rigging and refit the ship in other
respects.

Balboa was the first European who beheld the
Pacific ocean. In 1513, standing on the mountain of
the isthmus, his astonished eyes saw it stretching
away placid and bright in the sun's rays. De-
scending to the shore he bathed in it, and,
naming it the Great South Sea, took posession of
it on behalf of the King of Spain. Such a pro-
ceeding seems to us very presumptuous- It was
presumptuous.

It was not, however, until 1620 that a European
navigated the new ocean. In that year Magellan,
passing through the straits that now bear his name,
sailed for three months and twenty days upon it,
and during the whole time no storm ruffled its surface.

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164 BBMINISOBNCBS OF ▲

On this account he gave it the appropriate name
of Pacific ocean, a name which all the subsequent
navigators unite with him in declaring descriptive
of it

When we had crossed the Equinoctial line again
the passengers began to talk of the North Star.
There seemed to be a universal and intense de-
sire to behold it Nightly, sharp eyes skirted the
sky along the northern board, and when at length
the weU-known star did appear, it was hailed with
shouts of joy. It had set behind us in the Atlantic
— ^it rose before us in the Pacific.

Faithful star, how it carried us back in imagina-
tion to our far off homes! Over them it had
watched all our lives, and over them we were con-
fident it was watching then.

The Frenchmen whom we had taken on board
at Valparaiso ran over with national characteristics.
They were remarkably gay, talkative, and polite.
One of them was a bit of a conjurer. He
swallowed pistol bullets, and afterwards extracted
them from his ears, eyes and nose — changed coppers
to half dollars — drew fathom after fathom of twine
from his nose — all to the great edification and
amusement of his stiffer fingered fellow-passengers.

One of his tricks (not a slight-of-hand one^ how-
ever,) came near, costing him a threshing The
passengers generally were sunning themselves upon

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YOTAOS ABOUND THE WOBLD. 105

the deck, whea he came among them with a Dovel
contriyance in his hand. It was one of those round,
wooden match hoxes, which are bo common with
the cover fastened on and two quills, one long and
one short inserted into the sides of it Between the
quills, one of which was directly above the other,
was a very small tin wheel on an axel, the ends
of which were inserted in the quills. Holding it up
before all, he said that it was an illustration of a
great principle in mechanics, and was an evidence
of mechanical genius in the inventor.

"If," said he, "one shall put his mouth to zis
long quill and blow, ze little wheel vill go round
von way — ^but suppose he puts his mouth to ze
short quill and gives von grand — vat you call him ?
suckf eh? — ^give von grand suck, it vill turn about
ze other way. Try it, mon ami," he continued,
handing the concern to a herculean down-easter.

All gathered around to witness the experiment,
but it was noticed by some that the contriver of
the machine began to back out of the crowd.

Down-east put the l^ng quill to his lips.

"Blow vare hard," said the Frenchman, now
outside of the throng.

Down-east blew, and forthwith there came out
of the short quill, which was pointing directly at
one of his eyes, a great cloud of soot.

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166 BSMINISCEKCBS OF A

Never was an eye blacked more quickly by
haman agency.

With an angry oath the victim threw away the
box, and cast his available eye about for the great
mechanician. He was nowhere to be seen. How
our countryman did curse while he rubbed his eye !
He denounced Frenchmen individually and collec-
tively, socially and morally.

The general mirth which the affair excited, did
not serve to allay his wrath. Finally he took off
his coat, and went in search of monsieur, to black
both of his eyes, he said) with something else thau
soot This his friends would not allow, saying it
was ooly a joke, and he must not disturb the
peace because he happened to be the victim of it.

And by-and by when the worst was over, the
Frenchman came forward and apologized. He said
the soot went into the eye contrary to his expecta-
tion, etc., etc., with numerous bows and gesticula-
tions. So good feeling was once more restored.

Had the Maine man, instead of blowing into the
long quill, sucked upon the short one, he would have
had his mouth and throat filled with soot

The little tin wheel revolved neither way. The
only thing that went round was the laugh, and that
was in obedience to a law of nature, and had nothing
to do with mechanics.

Feb. 27, at six o'clock in the morning, land was

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VOYAGB ABOUKD TflB WOBLD. 167

seen from aloft. The annoancement created a sen-
sation for it was the land of California.

I was at that moment engaged in duty tiiat I
could not desert^ and it was aa hoar before I
could indulge my cariosity. By that time the land
was visible from deck« The morning was dall and
gloomy, and the distant shore seemed to me to
partake of that dallness and gloom.

The passengers' were giving ^t their whole at-
tention. They regarded it solenmly, earnestly, and,
no doabt, with great satisfaction.

We sailed on all the long day, and jast as the
twilight was deepening into darkness, we entered
the famoas Golden Gate.

Two or three vessels were in company. Pretty
soon a little craft ranged up on oar larboard quar-
ter, and a voice in the gloom asked-*

"Do you want a pilot?"

"Certainly not," was the reply.

Something was muttered about a " branch," and
then the voice subsided, and the little vessel dis-
appeared in the darkness.

At ten o'clock we anchored, having made the
passage from Bath in 17a days.

Thank God I Our weary voyage was at an end.
We had reached Eldorado at last And, save two,
we were all there.

The veil of night was drawn over the bay, the

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168 VEMOOBCaOKSaB OV A

fleet, tbe city — over eYerything. We saw li^^its
twinkling where the darker shade denoted land,
but that did not abate onnosity — it only stimulated
it. So, very wisely, we tamed into oar berths and
and waited for the morning.

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YOTJom ABomm TSB woBLor ie9

CHAPTER XV.

BAT OF BAK FRANCISCO— OUBBSNTS OF THB PACIFIC

'SAIL FOB HOKOLULU.

S soon as I awoke in the morning I tnrned
out, and, without bestowing mnch time npon
my toilet, hastened out npon deck. The snn was
jnst rising. I turned towards it — not to worship,
but to hare a starting point at which to begin my
survey.

I looked and saw-— ah, how treacherous is
memory ! I cannot remember half that I saw, though I
gazed^ and gazed again, until every surrounding
object should have been indelHbly daguerreotyped
upon my mind.

What I do retain, however, is very vivid yet.
Jnst under the sun, and furly rosy in his early
beams, the land swept from the eastern shore of
the bay, back to the base of Mount Diabolo. That
mountain, a very striking object, rose high in the
air, overlooking everything between the coast and
the Sierra Nevada Range. Between it and the bay,
gigantic, solitary trees grew here and there.

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' ITa xxunitsoxirom ov a

I turned slowly to the south and all this changed
into a forest of masts. And such a forest, sure,
was never anywhere seen before. " The pine hewn
on Norwegian hills, stood with the pines of Maine.'*
Side by side with the pitchy growth of the Caro-
linas, was the evergreen growth of far Australia.
No jardin des plantea could be more variously con-
stituted. Representatives were there from every
quarter of the earth — ^from the primeval groves of
Oregon — from, lands bordering on the Okhotsk sea
— ^from the St. Lawrence valley — and from the op-
posite shores of the Mediterranean sea. They were
the masts of ships, and barques, and brigs, and
schooners, but both spars and hulls were mingled
into a vast and confused mass.

A bold promontory shut out the greater part of
the city from view. Rough, uncouth dwellinga
dotted the' shore along where I could see it, and
similar ones stood back upon the slope.

To the west, as I continued to turn, I beheld
the stridt, through which we had entered the pre-
vious evening. On the south side an old dilapida-
ted fort, watched, but did not guard, the way, and
on the north the shore was high and steep. Next
zny gaze wandered into the bight of Sausalito, and
then over the long stretch of water running up to
the tributary bay of San Pablo. Many small vea-

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TOTAGB ABOIKKD THE WORLD. 171;

selB were under way in that direction and gave a
home-like aspect to the scene.

When I had completed the whole circuit from
east round to east again, I drew a long breath like
one who has learned the catastrophe of a story.

The entrance to San Francisco bay, prophetically
called the Oolden Gate^ by the Spaniards long ago,
it wonderful.

In approaching it you sail along the forbid-
ding coast, which appears continuous far as tixe eye
can reach) and seek in vain for an indication of an
opening.

But suddenly, as if by magic, * it is all before
you, cleft by Omnipotent power throagh the array
of rocky hills. At its narrowest part, the passage
is only a mile wide. In length it is about three
miles: «. e., from the sea to where the bay begins
to unfold itself. A very strong tide runs into it*
Ships outward bound, when a westerly wind is
blowing in, often heave id in mid-channel uid let
the ebb tide run them out.

. The bay within is over sixty miles in length
and will average ten in width. It receives from
the N. £., through the Bay of San Pablo, the wa-
ters of two important rivers, the Sacramento and
San Joaquin. On the S, -£., also, a little stream
flows into it, the river Guadalupe. A few islands
lie in it. Whoever has visited San Francisco wiU^

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112 BXMimSCTON'CnBg OF ▲

remember Islands de los Angeles, Los Alcatrazes,
and Terba Buena. The bay lies parallel with the
coast outside, and its entrance, the Oolden Gate, is
situated not far from midway between its nordiem
and southern ends.

I dwelt at some length upon the currents of the
Atlantic and their influence upon the climates ci
adjacent countries. There are corresponding cur-
rents in the Pacific that produce corresponding re-
sults there.

The Pacific equatorial current is very broad,
extending twenty-six degrees south of the equator
and twenty-four north. It .flows through the scat-
tered groups of islands that lie in mid-ocean, and,
striking the shore of Australia and New Guinea,
turns towards the norUi.

The ''Black Stream,'* the Gulf Stream of the
Pacific, pouring through the Straits of Malacca, runs
along the coast of Asia, past the Philippines, and
the Islands of Japan, striking the American coast
just south of the Aleutian Islands. From thence
its course is south again towards the equator.

West of California, and just north of the Sand*
wich Islands is another Sargasso sea, bearing upon
its bosom the sea-weed and drift-wood of the north
Pacific.

Like the Atlantic currents these Pacific currents
distribute the surplus heat and cold of the tropical

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VOYAOB iLBOUKD THB WORLD. 17S |

and polar regions^ where they add to the salabrity
of the climate, the fertility of the soil, and, oonse-
qnentiy, to the comfort and happiness of man. In
this distribution Caiiibmia comes in for a generous
share.

In what I have heretofore written, I have not
represented my duties as being very arduous. I
was a sort of supernumerary. But when our an-
chor fdl from the cat head in San Francisco Bay
the entire aspect of things was as much changed
as if an enchanter^s wand had been waved over .
the ship. The passage was up, and those who had
worked their passage rallied no more at the call of
^'att hands.''

On the morning after our arrival the ship's com^
pany consisted of the captain, two mates, ^e cook
and the steward and five boys.

Several passengers, while arrangements were
progressing for their journey to the mines^ pre-
ferred to remain on the ship, and work for their
board. With their assistance the lumber was dis-
charged quite rapidly. A little was landed at the
city, but the greater part was discharged into small
vessels and carried away inland.

On board of one of these vessels the doctor
found some of his beloved gin. His volubility in-
dicated what the matter was.

The supper hour arrived but no bell rang to

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Hi BBHIKISCSNCSS OF ▲

tell as that the tea was made. I was sent to the
galley to assist and hurry matters up. On entering
I found the doctor sitting on his hcnch in front of
the stove. No sooner did I appear than he
began :

'^I'se mighty glad you'se come in, Massa R.
Tse been tinking 'bout my wife, and ■ 'dluded it's
time to send her a letter. Spose youVe handy at
such tings, Massa R., an' I'll jes' get you to fix up
one. Missis Brown '11 be desperate put out not to
. hear from me, and den, what her relations link I
Dar's Jule Johnsing, one ob de — ^"

Here I contrived f<y interrupt him, mildly though,
for it flattered me very much to be called Massa^
and asked to write a letter.

"Doctor," I said, "it's about supper time, and
I've come to help you. What shall I do?"

" Well, Massa R, if dey's hungry, we'll get de
supper now, and talk 'bout dat letter afterwards.
I want you to write it, dough, or I dunno what
Missis Brown do, or what her relations tink."

"Shall I lay the table. Doctor?"

"Yes. But Massa R, I hopes you'll tink 'bout
dat letter. Missis Brown — "

But I was out of hearing. Supper was soon
ready, for there was enough cooked. All the time
the Doctor kept up a running fire of words. His

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VOYAGB ABOUND THE WOBLD. 175

ideas were in a very chaotic state, however. I
conld distinguish as I hurried to and fro

"Baltimore — de ole colonel — ^Missis Brown — de
Johnsings — mos' beautiful head."

After tea was ready I remained in the cabin to
wait upon the table. I left the Doctor standing in
the galley door, with arms folded and tongue wag-
ging briskly.

When supper was over I picked up an armful of
dishes and proceeded forward. The Doctor had dis-
appeared from the galley door, and not a solitary
word did I hear spoken within, as I approached.
Ah! the second change which marked his courses
of drunkenness had come. He was sick. The im-
ages of his wife and her relations. had all departed,
even in that short time. He thought no more about
them, nor did he seem to care, then, what they
thought about him.

He was reclining upon his bench, and support-
ing his head upon one hand. He addressed me in
a very small, faint, melancholy voice:

"I'se bery sick," said he. "Won't you ax de
capen to git me suffin out ob de medicine chest?''

The next day I cooked for the white men and
nursed the black man, who was excessively ill. But
the day following that, Henry Brown ***wa8 himself
again," quiet, inoffensive and industrious.

It was not long before our number was reduced

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176 saanmBcisscisA of ▲

to four, viz., the oaptiuo, my brother, myself^ and
the cook. The mate and steward were discharged,
and the others ran o£E On an average, however,
this was a large number to be left on one ship at
that port at that time. In many cases all ran.

I landed at one other place besides the city
during our stay at San Francisco. One Sabbath
day my brother and I rowed the boat over to the
little island of Alcatrazes. I have not attempted to
describe the city, but I will, Los Alcatrazes, because
it can be done briefly. It was composed of uneven
rocks, little deposits of guano were on it, screaming
birds flew over it, and from it proceeded a horrible
Rtench. We did not stay long.

April 5, 1850, we were i:^ady (with the exception
of shipping a crew,) for sea again. The ship had
be^i chartered to proceed to Calcutta, and load for
London. It was soon found impossible to procure
seamen foe the voyage to the East Indies. A mate
was secured, and that was the extent of what could
be done in that direction. The next best thing was
then tried, which was to get men to go as far as
the Sandwich Islands. Once there we hoped to be
able to get some kind of a crew. In this next best
thing we succeeded. Six men were shipped on the
following tenns : The extent of the voyage should
be Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands, the pay one
hundred dollars for the run, to be paid in silver

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VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 177

r coin, on the capstan, as soon as the ship was fairly
I out of sight of land. It was not at all difficalt to
understand the present condition of our six men, nor
to guess what their future designs were. They had
j been to the mines and dug out little fortunes. Thus
* enriched they had returned to San Francisco. The
- call of dissipation is irresistible to a sailor, and
through the avenues of drinking and gambling their
j fortunes soon stepped out Then their eyes, and
their desires, turned towards the gold region again.
But the way there was long, and money was requis-
ite. They had no money. Could they get any?
Yes, easily. They could wheel dirt in a wheelbar-
row and get five dollars per day for it. Sailors roll
no such wheels, however. Then they could work
on ship board in the harbor, and receive sixty dol-
lars per month. TLat was better. But they could
also go to the Sandwich Islands and receive one
hundred dollars for the run. If an opportunity
offered for them to work their way back again, they
would have the hundred dollars intact on their ar-
rival. If that opportunity did not offer, the price
of a passage was only thirty dollars, which would
leave them seventy on their an-ival. So it was a
sure ticket to the mines either way, and a sea voy-
age had in the bargain. One can easily conceive
how an old tar might yeani for that sea voyage —
yearn for the luxury of a storm at sea — to hear the

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119 BEMINISCEirCBS OP A

masic of the gale — ^to catch a view of the bine,
fathomless ocean — and to inhale that air which has
no taint of the land.

On leaving San Francisco we uurabered eleven,
all told. My brother was made second mate. It
seemed like the beginning of a long and melan-
choly task when we manned the windlaws brakes to
jveigh the anchors ; but a boat's crew came to our
aid from the barque Midas, of Warren, Me. Then
the volume of our windlass songs were doubled, the
rAtiling of the iron panls was quick and continuous,
and the last anchor was soon apeak. About ten in
the forenoon we gathered away in the ship. When
we were able to look out upon the ocean through
the narrow entrance, the horizon presented such a
threatening appearance that the course of the ship
was not altered, and we stood over to Sausalito and
anchored again. It was two or three days before
our anchor was lifted again. On one of these days
my brother and I lauded, and took a short walk*
The earth was baked hard, and in some places wide
and deep cracks appeared in it. But while such
was the uninviting character of the earth beneath,
there was spread over it by the tasteful hand of
nature, a most beautiful carpet of green leaves and
bright flowers. None of the plants had attained
,more than an inch in height, and, as nearly all were
of that height, the surface was very even. The

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WOBLD, l79

predominating color was yellow. The impression
made upon my mind by the compact order in which
these plants grew, and the coolness an d be auty with
which they invested the parched and cracked earth,
remains to this day.

April 30, we were under sail again, and working
oat to sea against a westerly breeze. The ebb tide
was ranning out furiously, and thanks to it, we were
soon clear of the land, and stretching away to the
south-west. According to agreement, six hundred
silver dollars were then paid to the crew.

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180 BEMINISCBNCES OF A

CHAPTER XVI.

ARRIVE AT HONOLULU. — A SAILOR'S BCONOMY. — TB«
SANDWICH ISLANDS.

FTER a long, but pleasant passage of twenty
days, we saw, one morning, the monntain
summits of Oahu before us. The wind was light,
and it was not until tive o'clock in the afternoon
that we anchored oif Ilonoluln. Early in the morn-
ing a pilot came off to take the ship inside of the
reef, into the inner harbor. The passage in between
the reefs is very narrow, and the prevailing winds
blow almost directly out.

We got under way, and stood off until the ship's
head would point to windward of the entrance, on
the other tack, and then went about. When we
were abi^ast of the passage, the helm was put down,
and the ship, with her sails shaking, shot into the
opening. Then the order was given to clue up
everything upon the run, and this was accomplished
before the ship lost her way.

Meanwhile a heavy line had been run to the
reef on the starboard hand, where a host of Kana-

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VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD.' 181

kas were in waiting. These all seizing upon the line,
drew the vessel along, until she was far enough in
to fetch by the reef on the port side, then the line
was cast off, everything sheeted home, and the an-
chorage made under saiL It was lively work while
it lasted.

When the ship was moored, our six men were
free. Before thera lay the town, teeming with sinful
allurements. They seemed to understand how far
they were from being proof against temptation.
The object for which they had undertaken the voy-
age was yet to be accomplished. They must save
enough of money to get back to San Francisco, jftnd
from thence to the mines. How to do this was a
question that they discussed earnestly. One old tar
spoke out, as I happened to pass them:

" I'll tell ye, mates, what /'m going to do. The
rest of ye may do as ye please. The boy here
(meaning mo) will take care of my shiners while I
land and take an observation. Then if it's pay
money to San Francisco, I'll pay mine the first
thing, and be sure of that much." Two others,
younger men, approved of this plan. The remaining
three had some other crotchet.

Forthwith those who had constituted me guar-
dian of their treasure came with it. Each one had
his hundred dollars in a stocking — a woolen purse.
They said they had each taken ten dollars to pay

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182 BSMINISCBirCBS OF A

current expenses, and that they wonld retam for the
remainder as soon as they had made arrangements
for returning to San Francisco. I accepted the trust
quite proudly. The stockings I placed in my chest
and locked them up. In an hour all were gone.
The next day the two young men who had left the
money with me, returned. They said they had se-
cured passage to San Francisco in a barque about
to sail for that port. The price of a passage was
thirty dollars, and they were intending to pay im-
mediately.

The succeeding day the old, veteran tar came
on board, and with him a strange sailor. Both had
been drinking. In descending the gangway steps
to the deck, each made a low obeisance by falling
headlong down. After a few words of greeting, the
old sailor told me in a husky voice that he wanted
money. I brought his stocking. It would seem that
the strange sailor had solicited a loan.

"Jack," said the capitalist, opening his stocking,
how much do ye want?"

"Say that yerself, my hearty — I'm easy."

The holder of the stocking thrust his hand into
it, and drew out a heaped handful of dollars.

"Will that do ye?"

"Yes. Count 'em."

" I'll be cursed if I do, now. Figerin's for land-
sharks I If ye want more, say so."

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TOYAGB ABOUND THB WOBLD. .183

"There's a plenty, Bhipmate. Now when'U I
pay ye?"

"There, belay that! No such lingo atween us.
Pay when you can pay."

In the transfer of the coin from hand to hand
seyeral dollars fell to the deck, but neither took any
heed of them. After putting a handful in his own
pocket, the owner of the stocking handed it b^ack
to me, and the twain were moving of^

" Look here," said I ; " see these dollars on the
deck. You'll pick them up?"

" Pick them up yourself, if you want them." And
the drunken, irresponsible men were soon on their
way to the shore. I gathered up the scorned dol-
lars, put them back into the stocking, which had
lost much of its fullness, and locked the whole up
again.

Two days afterwards the old sailor came again.
This time he was silent and morose. He said he
would take the stocking altogether, and not trouble
me any more. I asked what arrangements he had
made for getting back to San Francisco. He said
none, and as he did not appear at all communica-
tive, I said no more. When he received his stock-
ing he opened it, and taking out three dollars,
offered them to me. I refused them, and said he
had given me no trouble. Without a word he threw
them upon the deck, turned, and went over the side.

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184 BSMINISCBNCES OF A

I never afterwards saw one of the six, or beard
of one.

We now set about overhauling the ship. Three
native riggers were engaged ; and a few days sub-
sequently, a young American was shipped to remain
by the vessel until she should reach the United
States. His name was Joseph Bacon. Though only
seventeen years of age, going to sea was the third
occupation in which he had been engaged. He had
first been a circus rider, then a shoemaker, and he
was now a sailor. lie had come to the Sandwich
Islands in a New Bedford whaleship, from which
he ran at Hilo, in the Island of Hawaii. From
Hilo he had come to Honolulu, and ihe American
Consul sent him on board of us.

Shoi-tly after Joe came on board, we had a more
valuable addition to our ship's company. John C.
Oliver, a native of Bath, Maine, joined the ship as
carpenter. He was very intelligent, and possessed
a great deal of practical knowledge. His experienoe
had been most varied. He had served as carpen-
ter in merchant ships, and men-of-war, had been a
speculator in eastern lands, a gold digger in Cali-
fornia, and a resident of the Sandwich Islands.
The work of refitting progressed quite rapidly. The
situation was favorable, the days long and pleasant,
and the air invigorating.

The Sandwich Islands were discovered by Capt»

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TOTAOB ABOmO) THE WOBLD.' 186

Cook, towards the end of January, 1778, and named
thus in honor of Lord Sandwich, at that time Lord
of the Admiralty. They are ten in number, and
are called respectively, Hawaii, or Owhyhee, Mowee,
Tahoorowa, Ranoi, Morotoi, Oahu, or Woahoo,
Atooi, Tehoura, Oneeheow, and Oreehoua. There are
yarious ways of spelling these names. I have w^ritten
them as they were cpelled upon the chart of that
region. Hawaii is by far the largest of the group.
Tahoora and Oreehoua are very small islands, and
lie near the opposite ends of Oneeheow. The area
of all the islands is between six and seven thousand
square miles.

The Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin*
Oeographers make this remark of all the Islands of
Polynesia. *' Those which are mountainous are of
volcanic origin ; the' low ones are the work of the
coral insect."

Mount Kilauea, an active volcano on Hawaii, is
the peer of -^tna, Vesuvius, or Hecla. Extinct
craters are numerous on all the islands.

Volcanic countries have one general appearance
wherever they exist The Sandwich Islands abound
in rugged, irregular, picturesque mountains, smooth
plains, and rich valleys teeming with luxuriant veg-
etation. The natural products of these islands are
the cocoa nut, yam, taro root, sweet potatoe, etc.

It is said that, when first discovered, there were

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186 BBHINISCSNCBS OF A'

neither insects nor reptiles upon them, nor any ani-
mal larger than a hog. However, the domestic an-
imals of civilized nations were soon transported
thither, and they are appreciated by the Islanders.
I am in doubt which the Kanaka (who owns both,)
loves most dearly, his canoe, or his horse.

The climate of these Islands is delightful. The
skies are cloudless, and the atmosphere clear and
bracing. Thunder storms are rare, and light. The
temperature there, it has been observed, is that which
is most conducive to health. There are evident rea-
sons for all this. These islands lie along the northern
limit of the Torrid Zone, in the midst of a glorions
sea, and swept over by the constant trade wind.
Their climate cannot be the same as the climate of
a part of a continent situated in the same latitude.
The surrounding ocean constantly modifies the tem-
perature.

When Capt. Cook first visited Hawaii, he found
the natives rapacious and inhuman. His valuable
life was destroyed by them in the most barbarous
manner. They were cannibals, and they also offered
human sacrifices to their gods. These victims were
prisoners taken in battle, however. Others were
neither eaten, nor sacrificed. Idolatry was abolished
in 1819.

The early Christian missionaries on these and
other Islands of Polynesia, in performing their

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VOYAGE ABOUND THB WOBLD. 18Y

Diviaely appointed labor, have had obstacles to con-
tend with of which we have no adequate concep-
tion. When obstacles are mentioned in this con-
nection, our thoughts are naturally turned to the
natives, and we expect to discover the most formid-
able hindrances there. But this view of the matter
is not correct. The mass of these people, like those
to whom Peter preached on the Day of Pentecosti,
^^gladly received'^'* the words of the missionaries.

Let us look ih the opposite direction. Could an
intelligent and ingenuous heathen be set down in
this country to-day, and his conversion attempted,
might we not expect him, beholding the laxity of
mof als and the frequency of criminal acts, to say :
5* Wherein is your religion better than mine, if these
are the fruits of it that I see around me ?"

So in these distant islands, the ingenuous natives
pointed the missionaries to the agents of commercey
many of whom were neither chaste, nor honest, nor
temperate, and asked, " Are these the fruits of your
religion ? "

They did not realize that of a people one in
other respects, a part served God, and a part did
not. On this account, among these untaught beings,
the licentiousness and crimes of men having the
color, and speech, and customs of the missionaries,
was something that told terribly against the mis-
sionary cause. That was one obstacle. There is
another that sprung from the same seed.

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188 BBMINISCENCES OF A

The missionaries must stand between tbe yicions
of their own people and their victims. This con-
duct rendered them objects of hatred to those they
thwarted, who abased them there, and tarnished the
records of their labor when they reached home.

Such evil reports were brought home and pub-
lished by some of the old navigators. Prominent
among these was Capt. Kotzebue, of the Russian
Navy. It will not do, however, to bring agdnst
him the charges of licentiousness and crime, but
investigation has shown that, in looking at mission-
ary labor, his vision was warped by excessive pre-
judice.

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VOYAGE AEOUND THE WORLD. 189

CHAPTER XVIL

AT HONOLULU. — ^A KANAKA CBKW.

) HOUGH Hawaii is the largest island of the
group, Oahu has secured the Capitol. Hon-
olulu is situated on the south-east side of this island.
It is narrow of necessity, the sea in its front, and
the mountains in its rear not being remote. The
harbor is large enough to contain about a hundred
vessels, and is formed, as I have said before, by
coral reefs. These reefs are submerged at high tide,
and bare at low water. The harbor is perfectly
secure. The chief street of Honolulu leads out into
the Nuuanu Valley. Through this picturesque open-
ing in the mountains, a road extends about six miles,
•and terminates suddenly in the Pali, a sheer des-
cent of about eleven hundred feet. From the deck
of the ship we could trace the general direction of
the valley. A little to the right, rising close in the
rear of the town, was a high hill with a long, level
summit. Along this a tier of guns was placed, and
at its south-eastern extremity the Hawaiian flag was
daily set upon a tall pole. Farther to the right was

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190 REMnnSCEKCES OF ▲

the Devil's Punch Bowl, the crater of an extinct
volcano.

The town presented, on week days, a very busi-
ness like aspect. The most noticeable buildings
were a stone church, and a new market house, built
of coral, from the reefs forming the harbor. The
fort could not claim attention as a fortification, but
it was interesting on account of its historical as-
sociations.

It had played its part in the bullyings which
this realm has received from, and the cessions it has
made to stronger powers, from the time of the first
cession of Hawaii to Vancouver, down to the last
French raid. These barbarities seem to have been
individual acts, rather than national, and no endur-
ing wrong was done to the infant State,

I went over to the fort one day with the inten-
tion of " going round about, and telling the towers
thereof," but a squad of Hawaiian troops manoeuvring
near by took my thoughts completely away from it.
These Kanaka warriors were uniformed in a very
chance sort of a way. Some sported hats, shirts,
and pants, while others had only the hat, or only
the shirt, or only the pants, or neither the hat^ shirty
nor pants. Some handled muskets, others flourished
sticks. Their proficiency in drill was about on a
par with their equipments. 1'

Whether these were regulars^ or militia^ I could

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VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 191

not determine, for it was the only military display
I witnessed there.

Our Bhip was moored fore and aft in the harbor,
forward by the anchors, and aft by the kedge to
the ree€ Right astern of us, not far from where
our kedge lay, was a Kanaka hut. It was almost
afloat at high water. Its inhabitants were men,
women, and children, and quite a number of them ;
and why they had taken up th«ir abode with the
fishes, as it were, I could not imagine. Perhaps
they were not fit to live with other people. Cer-
tainly they were not an amiable family. They had
repeated quarrels, and the air was filled with their
hard words; often they filled it with something
harder than words, stoning each other for hours,
sometimes.

I witnessed one of these quarrels one day from
aloft, where I was at work. A poor wretch of a
girl was up to her middle in the water on the reef,
and the others were stoning and reproaching her
from the hut. Had she desired, she could have
taken herself out of the way very quickly, for these
creatures swim like fishes.

Frequently the stern hawser would shake, and
on looking over, I would behold a naked brown
body, climbing upon it, out of the water.

It is a favorite pastime with the Kanakas, gen-
erally, to go down to the shore where, and when

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192 REMINISCENCES OP A

V

the waves were rolling in most, furiously, and dive
under them, coming up two or three hundred yards
off, outside of the surf When they return they
commit themselves to the highest wave, and rjde to
the shore on its crest. They often carry with them
a piece of board which they bear before them in
their hands. From the deck of the ship we could
see their dark bodies plunging all day long into the
white surf that broke on the leefs. It would not
be much out of the way to say that a Kanaka is aa
much at home in t!ie water as on the land.

Their canoes are formed from trunks of trees,
and invariably carry outriggers to stiffen them. The
canoe is their national craft, and they are, of coarse,
skillful in the use of it.

Nothing occurred to bring us into contact with
any of the higher class of natives, excepting that
two young men, connected with the Royal family,
and students of the Royal School, came on board
one afternoon and remained until evening, taking
tea with us. They were very fine appearing men,
quite polished in their manners, spoke good English,
and were social and companionable. It was said
that many of the chiefs were amiable gentlemen.

Of the mass of the population not much com-
plimentary matter can be written.

We remained at Honolulu ubtil the twelfth of
June — about twenty days. My duties were too

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VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 193

pressing for me to see much outside of the town,
save what was visible from the ship. One Sabbath,
however, I thought it but just that I should have a
nm. So I mastered my available casli, put on my
best suit, and stepped into the boat, which was
about^ to proceed to the shore for something.
From the landing I directed my course towards the
fortified hill I have mentioned, in rear of the town.
After passing out from among the buildings, I found
myself upon a beaten path, leading to the foot of
the hill. The surface of the groimd was already
slightly ascending. While walking briskly along, I
was suddenly taken ^' all aback " by a scene at the
roadside. Three native women were lying asleep
in the gutter. The mud was soft enough to take
impressions, and they were making fine ones.

It may strike some that these women were as
naked as the swine they were imitating. Not so,
however, or my astonishment would have been less.
They were dressed — not in mats of their own man-
ufacture — not in the skins of beasts, birds, or fishes
— but in the richest and most gorgeous colored satin.
Strange anomaly I Whence are they, who are they ?
I wondered, and straightway I had thoughts of
King Kamehameha's household. But looking still
more closely, I abandoned that idea, for the dresses,
though so rich in material, were entirely without
proper form/ mere bags with lesser bags for sleeves.

Tojagt Arovnd tkt WorM. 1 ^

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194 BEMINISCENCES OF A

Inquiries made subsequently, enlightened me in re-
gard to the matter, but I cannot venture upon an
explanation.

Turning away from these human swine, in their,
congenial mud, I pursued my way toward the hilL
Before me no one was coming whom I might meet,
and no one going whom I might overtake ; nor was
any one following me, near, or in the distance. A
Sabbath calm had rettled down upon the country,
the town, and the shipping.

The road led up the southern slope of the hill.
Though quite steep, the ascent was not difficult for
one whose wind was good. The view from the sum-
mit was magnificent, and I stood admiring it long
after I was rested. At my feet lay the town. Be-
yond, decked with flags, rose the masts of the ship-
ping in the harbor. Outsido, the waves of the great
ocean broke in white foam on the reefs. On the
left, was the Devil's Punch Bowl, and groves of
cocoa nut ; and back of me, on the right hand, the
dark peaks of many mountains. Over all a cloud-
less sky hung, and down upon all the great sun
poured his vivifying and cheering rays.

In making my survey of the summit of the hill,
I first walked from end to end of the long rovr of
cannons. Each muzzle was flush with, or projected
over the brow of the hill. They were twenty-four
and thirty- two pounders, and all in poor condition.

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TOY AGS ABOXTNP THB WOBLD. 195

Had the guns been in good order, it would have
been a very effective battery. It overlooked the
harbor and the roadstead, and in a measure, com-
manded all the approaches to the town,

I was surprised to find no person on the hilL
The stronghold seemed to bo abandoned. Where
the flag staff stood was higher than the level of the
guns. About it was a great pile of cannon balls.
As I moved in that direction, I heard a slight, un-
usual sound. It was neither the rustle of the flag,
nor the sighing of the wind. A few more steps
revealed the cause. On the ground, by tte farther
edge of the pile of balls, an old Kanaka lay on his
back, asleep. A little solo that he was perforfniog
on his nasal organ had reached my ears. I walked
about the old fellow, whistled, coughed, and rattled
the cannon balls, but he slumbered on without t^e
quiverinsc of a muscle. Now, thought I, suppose I
were a cruel, designing, relentless enemy to th^
Hawaiian kingdom, and the Hawaiian king^ I could
capture and dismantle this stronghold in about thirty
minutes, and inflict any indignity upon the standard
of the realm. I would first take up a cai^non ball,
and dash it upon the head of the sleeping Kanaka,
a process calculated to scatter his brains pretty pro-
miscuously about (I will insert here, parenthetically,
that the above calculation about the Kanaka^s brains
was altogether erroneous. I was not aware at that

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106 BBMIKISCENCBS Olf A

time of the thickness and solidity of a Kanaka^
skall. Subsequently, as I shall have occasion to re-
late in the course of this narrative, my eyes were
opened. If a thirty-two pound ball had been dashed
down upon this sleeper^s head, it would probably
have roused him from his nap, but it would not
have hurt him mach.)

Let me see — the last thiug I did before entering
the parenthesis, was to knock out the Kanaka's
brains, in imagination. That done, I would descend
to the level of the guns, and shove them, one after
another, over the brow of the hill. Then I would
take down the Hawaiian flag, and tear it into pocket-
handkerchiefs — after which I would amuse myself
by rolling the cannon balls down after the cannons.
If Kauakadom came to the rescue meanwhile, and
I could not frighten them by rolling balls at them,
I would flee over the other side of the hill and seek
a place of safety.

However, being a friend to the Hawaiian king-
dom, and in no wise an enemy to the Hawaiian
king, I attempted no such thing.

When I left the hill the Kanaka was sleeping
the sleep that knows a waldng, the flag of Hawaii
blew out proudly from its staff*, and the cannons still
overlooked the town. And yet my imagination was
so fired by taking the fortress, that I found myself
absolutely compelled to do something unusual and

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VOYAGB ABOUND THE WOELD. 19^

heroic. Therefore, instead of descendiug by the
road, as I came up, I went over the brow of the
hill, straight towards the town. It was very steep
— in places almost perpendicular. It was " a hard
road to trarel." I regretted that I had on ray best
Buit. Otherwise I should have sat down, and cau-
tiously " put her through to the bottom." But my
apparel had to be spared. So I stamped along,
driving my heels in as far as I could, feeling and
testing everything before I committed my weight to
it. Once in a while I would find a stont tuft of
grass in just the right place to lead me over a per-
pendicular jog. When nearly down, I caught sight
of a man walking swiftly toward me from the town.
I began to think my proceedings were irregular,
and his object was to call me to an account I
kept on, however, and met him a little way from
the foot of the hiil. He was a young Kanaka. When
he passed me, instead of frowns, his face displayed
smiles. I was very tired when I reached the land-
ing place. Two Kanakas offered to paddle me on
board, and 1 graciously permitted them to do so.

When we were about ready for sea, a crew was
shipped consisting, according to articles of agree-
ment, of a boatswain, and ten able seamen. But
the facts of the case were these. The boatswain
was but an ordinary seaman, and of the ten men,
not one had ever put foot upon a ship's deck before.

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198 BSMIKI8CB17CXS OF A

Some one may wonder how we came to be so de-
ceived in tbera. We were not deceived, except in
the boatswain, whom we supposed to be a thorough
seaman.

I have already said that men were not procurable
in San Francisco, to go far from that attractive
place ; and suitable men were not to be obtained
at Honolulu. If any were there, their faces were
set towards the East, Eldorado, and not towards
the West. We knew, beforehand, all this to be true
of white men, but we did hope t j find at the cap-
itol of the Hawaiian kingdom. Kanakas who had
been taught seamanship and English by the whale-
men, who often employ them on board their ships.
We were disappointed, because many ships had pre-
ceded us, bound to the same ports, and having the
same necessities as ourselves. The^e had gleaned
from all the Islands every man who could handle
a marlin spike, or climb a mast We were, there-
fore, compelled to take what we could g^t, and on
rather hard terms, at that.

In the boatswain we considered we had a treas-
ure. He was a native, he said, and a thorough
sailor, and understood and spoke English. Here,
then, was one to interpret to the others, and teach
them what it was necessary they should know.

The ten green Kanakas were furnished to order
by the King. It was said he fumbhed them in any

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qnantities to tbe crewless ships. We had ours upon
the following terms. They were to receive twenty
dollars per month, and one month's pay in advance.
Here again rumor (which is the same thing, and as
often correct in one place as another,) dragged in
the King. It was said that he received the whole,
or the greater part of this advance, and it was the
price for which fie sold a subject>

He did not sell them unconditionally, though, as
will be seen by another item in the terms. Each
Kanaka, unless he left voluntarily, or died, must be
eventually returned to the Islands, or five hundred
dollars forfeited for him. Bonds were required to
that effect. It would have been a hard case, had
the men actually been seamen. How much more
80, then, when it is understood that they literally
knew nothing. And then such names as they had t ^

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200 EKMIHI80BNCXS OW. A

CHAPTER XV.III.

MOBE ABOUT OUB CBEW. — SAIL FBQH HONOLULU, —
VABIOUS MATTBBS. — PBOPOSKD BOUTE TO THE IN-
DIAN OCEAN.

WILL in a few sentences complete my de-
scription of onr Kanakas. I referred to their
names. Two only were able to retain their patro-
nymics throughout, viz., Cuhaver and Lolo. Chance,
or some peculiarity of the ifidividnal, soon fastened
new appellations upon the others, and they bore
them thereafter, while with us.

At one time . I had seen and been fascinated by
a picture of John Gilpin, that " citizen of credit
and renown.^' He was represented as he appeared
when 'Hhe trot became a gallop soon in spite of
check or rein." I retained, and still do, a very vivid
recollection of the picture, and no sooner did my
eyes rest upon one individual of the ten, than I in-
voluntarily exclaimed, "eToAn Gilpin/^'

There was no resemblance in point of flesh and
rotundity — ^rigbt the reverse ; but it was the position
of the body, and the peculiar cast of all the limbs.

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The name obtained, and he was henceforth known
as "John Gilpin.'* This worthy's age had been
given as twenty-eight years. One gazing on his in-
describable face, and observing how squarely it was
framed of great bones whereon was no flesh, would
have said " a centenarian," for there was nothing
juvenile in his appearance. That face of his was
near akin to Death's head. It was almost frightfuL

"There's an old customer," said the carpenter,
referring to John Gilpin.

" Only twenty-eight," I said,

" Hoot ! " said he, " I have seen him before. He
is reputed to be vastly more than a century old.
Look at his teeth. (They were not quite as large
as gravestones, as were the Giant ** Eat-'em-all's,"
nevertheless, they were uncommon teeth.) They
Bay," continued the carpenter, "that he helped to eat
up Capt. Cook — the old rascal!"

By the way, what did become of Capt Cook's
flesh? His bones were recovered. For what pur-
pose did the natives remove the flesh? Might it
not have served them for a meal ? Remember they
were cannibals, upon the captain's own authority.

Another Kanaka was called "Big Man." Why?
JBecatise he was a big man* Another was dubbed
"Dan Gideon." Why, again? I don't know, I'm
sure. "John Steward" was the name bestowed

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202 BEKOISCBKCXS OF ▲

I

upon the youngest ; and the most intelligent of the
ten was known as "Little Bill"

June 12th the pilot, an old Englishman of the
exact complexion of a carrot, and of the exact shape,
from the shoulders down, of a short, thick one, came
on board. We unmoored and made sail. Instead
of passing out canal fashion, as we entered, we
glided swiftly out between the reefs before a brisk
breeze. Just outside we hove to. The pilot's boat
was hauled up to the gangway, and wishing us a
quick and pleasant passage, he descended the side
— the oars of his Kanakas fell with man-of-war's
precision, and the boat shot back into the harbor.

" A quick and pleasant passage ! " Oh, pilot,
pilot, pilot, could we have foreseen how different
must be our fate from your kind wishes, sad indeed
would our hearts have been !

We filled away again. The wind was fair. Sail
after sail was spread as quickly as our awkward
crew could work. All the long day we labored,
expostulated, and gesticulated^ but the sun was far
down before the anchors were secured, chains stowed,
and order restored about decks.

There had been laid in, for ship use, quite a
stock of squashes, potatoes, and pigs. Particularly
did we have a large quantity of squashes. The rail
across the forward part of the poop deck was closely
hung with them, and the quarter boat nearly filled.

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VOTAfeE AROUND THE WORLD. 203

Joe Bacon and myself, representing the more
youthful portion of our little cTommunity, had pri-
vately catered for ourselves, and our purchases, in
the shape of cocoa nuts and watermelons, were
stowed away in a berth in the forward cabin.

Cocoa nuts are about one thing the world over;
but there was something about the flavor of the
watermelons of Honolulu, " all their own." I had
eaten them at home, and, I regret to say it, had
stolen them from the neighbors' gardens and eaten
them. And at the Academy and at college, I have
since aided in the consumption of these vegetables
(how obtained does not matter now), but never have
I met with any, anywhere, at all comparable with
these of Hawaiian growth. Had they too, been
stolen, and possessed the added sweetness of stolen
fruit, they would have rivaled Amfcrosia.

After supper, filled with a spirit of observation,
I went forward to see how the Kanakas came on.
It was their supper time, and I found them con-
gregated between the ioremast and the windlass.
Two or three wers eating from a large panfull of
stewed beans, but the greater part were sitting about
in a delightful state of sea-sickness.

All at once the ship gave three or four unaccount-
able rolls. The first was not violent, and nothing
moved on deck, but the second was violent, and
pitched the sea-sick Kanakas down against the rail ^

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204 BEMIKISOENCSS OF ▲

on the port side. The third roll sent the well Ka-
nakas down upon their already prostrate companions.
And the barrel which supported their bean stew,
losing its bearings, pitched the bean dish bottom-
side upwards upon the poor fellows — ^hot gravy upon
cold meat. The ship, rolling with increasing violence
back to starboard, nearly threw me from the fore-
castle. I caught by the paul bits, and, luckily, held
on. Every moveable thing on deck was in motion.
With a grand crash and rattle, a number of empty
barrels dashed about between decks. The iron
hooks of the blocks, as the opposite yard arms
pointed, now up, and now down, grated in the eye-
bolts, and the blocks themselves thumped heavily
on the yards. The iron trusses of the lower yards
snapped and squeaked, the chain topsail sheets
clanked against the yards and masts, the square sails
spilled, and the jibs threshed against the stays. All
this occurring at that mysterious hour when dark-
ness has half gained the mastery over light, brought
ten thousand undefined terrors to the souls of the
Kanakas, and to the universal uproar they added
their demi-savage groans, shrieks and expostulations.
Just then the Doctor issued from the galley to see
what was to pay. He had been eating his own
supper, and the interruption provoked him; but he
was rendered doubly indignant when he beheld tho
fate of the supper he had prepared for the Kanakas,
His accustomed silence was broken.

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WORLD. 205

" How's dis ?" he said to the Kanakas, who were
trying to regain their feet, " Been a eatin' wid de
hogs ? Spose you eat wid 'em all de time ? Dey's
de neatest ob de two, dat's sartin. I'll ask de cap-
en to hab a big troagh made. If dat's de way de
beans go, dar won't be many 'board dis ship afore
soon. Jes' go riglit 'long an' clean up dat ar
mess, now!"

Having relieved his mind, the Doctor returned
to finish his supper. It was a ridiculous scene, taken
altogether, and pretty soon the well Kanakas began
to appreciate it First, sundry diabolical gi'ins were
interchanged, then followed pantomimic action, and
then barbarous words, and, at length, by way of
pleasantry, they made feints to, and actually did
lick the bean soup off from each other.

It has been a mystery to me ever since, what
caused the ship to roll so furiously, just then. Save
the long ocean roll with which we were running,
the water was not much agitated, for the wind was
light She had rolled none before during the day,
nor did fhe any more after she was through with
those violent vibrations. It might have been that
the helmsman let her swerve so far from her course
that the long swell came on her quarter.

Through the night the weather was pleasant and
the wind light And the succeeding day was also
very pleasant. After breakfast the arduous task of

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206 BBHINISCENCES 07 A

drilling our crew commenced. Tney were mustered
upon the poop deck, and the boatswain instructed
to harangue them to this effect:

" You will now be taught how to make and take
in sail, and you must pay particular attention, and
learn to do it all very well and very quickly."

The mizzeu topgallant sail was then clewed up.
The attention of the Kanakas was called to the
halliards — how the yard was raised and lowered by
them ; to the clew lines — how they gathered up the
corners of the sail; to the buntlines — how they raised
the foot. Then they were told that what was done
with this sail was a common process with the other
similar sails. They were then exercised in furling it

Next the mizzen topsail was taken in hand, reef-
ed, double reefed, and furled. Then both sails were
set again. This was repeated several times, both
in the forenoon and afternoon. As we were running
directly before the wind, this practice upon the sails
of the mizzen mast did not affect the speed of the
ship. Lessons were also given the Kanakas in
steering.

The next day the exercise was resumed, and
they were additionally drilled in hauling up the
courses, handling the jibs, etc. These exercises
were continued many succeeding days. Providence
favoring us with fine winds and weather, for what
we had to do.

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VOYAGB ABOUND THE WOELD. 20Y

One or two of our scholars, Little Bill, in par-
ticular, showed some aptitude, catching quite readily
at names and ways of doing things. But by far
the greater part had a natural fund of stupidity,
which neitlier art nor perseverance could exhaust.
Especially was this true of Jolm Gilpin. If he was
told to find even the main topsail halliards, he would
turn in every direction, with a ghastly grin on his
anatomy of a face, thrusting his hands in this way,
and that. As for finding the halliards in question,
he could not do it. Practice, far from making him
perfect, did not enlighten him in the least.

A very mortifying fact came to light during this
course of instruction in nautical art. We soon no-
ticed that the boatswain, although he spoke in a
tongue unknown to us, did not seem to be well un-
derstood by the Kanakas, whose countryman he had
represented himself to b.e. At length their mis-
understandings became so gr^at that the matter was
investigated. After much ingenious inquiry it was
ascertained that Mr. Boatswain was not a Sandwich
Islander, but a native of Tahiti. The Kanakas could
comprehend a part of what he said, but not all.
Whether they understood from a similarity of the
Hav«raiian dialect to the Tahitian, or the boatswain
had partially mastered the former, I do not now
remember. One way or the other it must have
been, for while they understood him in part, they
were also perplexed in part

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208 BEMUnSC'ENCES OF ▲

Knowing the bloodthirsty character, and piratical
tendencies of the natives of the islands among which
we were to pass, my father had pnrchased in Hon-
oluln, several army muskets, and an abnndant sapply
of powder and ball. The carpenter was also direct-
ed to confitrnct a carnage for a brass foor-pounder
which was on board.

When the carriage was completed and the gun
mounted upon it, it was remembered that, to be
effective, something was required in the loading
besides powder. We had plenty of that, but no
cannon balls. '* Necessity is the mother of invention."
There were on board several tons of spikes, varying
in length from four to ten inches. We made up
parcels of these, and they proved on trial, to be very
formidable missiles.

It now occurs to me that I have not designated
by what passage my father intended to pass the
East Indian Archipelago. He had never navigated
those seas, and had, therefore, asked advice, and
consulted many authorities on the subject. He was
generally advised to sail by the Gilolo and Ombay
passages. It was declared to him that fair winds,
fair currents and fair weather, prevailed there at
that season. Just consult the proper map in the
Atlas, and you will see the direction in which we
w^re to go. The Gilolo Passage lies between the
Island of Gilolo and the small islands lying around

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yoyj^qh arottxd thx world. &00

the northern end of Papua, or New Guinea. To
reach the Ombay Passage from there, one must sail
through Pitt's Passage, by the northern end of
Bouro, and thence southward across the Banda Sea.
Ombay Passage is between Timor and the small
Island of Ombay, to the north, and leads into the
open Indian Ocean.

The advice received in regard to this route was

'backed up by books. Miserable, miserable advice

it was, and lying books they were taat confirmed it.

VoTMf* Aronnd the World. * *

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219 XaBMINISCS£7C2C OF A,

CHAPTER XIX.

ILLNESS. — A MUTINY. THE LADBONES.

HE iwenty-secaiid day of the month I be-
came ill with dysentery. It might have
been brought on by eating too freely of watermelons
and cocoa nuts. Who can always say, however,
whence disease comes?

I only know that this camo with nnusual vio
lence. It was after six in the evening when I ex-,
perienced the first unpleasant sensation. At foui^
the succeeding morning, so much had it prostrated
me that, while crossing the cabin, I fainted and fell.
My father, who was present, raised me and laid me
upon the transom in liis state room. Just above
me (a cause for gratitude in that hot clime,) was a
window that admitted cool air. As days passed by,
to increasing helplessness was joined mental aber-
ration. When taken ill I was reading, for the first
time, Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans." I h^d
reached the point where Ilawkeye and his insepa-
rable iriends rescue Duncan Hey ward's party from
the grasp of Magua, on the summit of the moand

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WORLD. ^211

whither he had led them. Of course I had been
absorbed in the tale. What boy, reading it, for the
first time, is not? And now my wandering mind
wont forth to mingle in the stirring scenes described
and to engage with the same actors in new ones.
I participated in the eventful night in the cavern
on the rocky island at Glenn's. My blood was cur-
dled by the strange Founds, which, rising from the
river's bed, Ilawkeye declared not to be of earth.
When day broke, I fought the Hurons across the
tumbling water. I conversed with Chingachgook,
with Hawkeye, and with Uncas, as though they were
always by my side. And so, for days, I lived in
an imreal world. Beings who had no existence were
my companions — my haunts were strange localities,
thousands of leagues away. Yet through all this I
saw, darkly and dreamily, the real world about me.
I knew that disease was wasting me away. I saw,
dimly, ray father and brother moving before me.
I could discern pity upon their countenances, and
often anguish. I was conscious of the bounding
motion of the ship, and the rain pattering upon deck,
above, made grateful music in my ears. After a few
days, my mind returned from its wanderings. The
first violence of the attack had ceased, and languor
and listlessness succeeded ; but the disease was un-
checked. The usual remedies prescribed for such
cases were powerlei^s, and I soon became feverish.

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212 BEMINISCBNCES OF A

Then water was denied me, in accordance with the
old time custom of treating fevers.

We were in the Torrid Zone and under a verti-
cal sun. Of coarse it was hot— hot as the breath
of a furnace. Oh, how hard it was to lie there
and wrestle with my fierce thirst ! By day, all my
thoughts were of water. I called to mind the many
pleasant springs upon the old homestead. I saw
them gushing out from the clefl ledges. How
well the mental eye replaces what the physical eye has
lost I I seemed to stand by one particular spring in
the field, whose cool, clear water I had oflen drank.
I watched it bublling up from its reservoir which
was never exhausted. Tiie gray sand rose and fell,
moved by the gushing water. The green grass
swayed and waved about the margin. The golden
buttercups nodded; and, just within the bounds of
hearing, the wind passed with a rustling sound
through the leaves and branches of an ash. Now
balancing on his wings, and now alighting on a twig
of elder, a bob o link was caroling his joyous song.
The great sun was overhead, and not a cloud floated
in the clear, azure heaven. What dispelled this
pretty illusion ? I knelt down to drink. As I bent
nearer and nearer my face was mirrored below me ;
but when my lips were almost touching, fancy took
flight, and the hard reality, burning thirst and no
water, only was left me. Then, with all my remain-
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YOYAas ABoinm thb world. 213

teg strength, I troald toss myself on my hard bed,
and moan.

By ntgbt, when I was sleeping, it was much the
same. I dreamed of water. Then I was, of course,
more comfortable than during the day. That fierce
son was then set whose beams heated, to an un-
bearable degree, the atmosphere about But water
is required to slake thii*st, and no sooner did I sleep
than I thought of it in dreams. Often I seemed to
be in Bio, walking by its pleasant fountains. Great
thirst had made me extravagant. I drank water by
the hogshead. But the waking dispersed all such
luxurious fancies. Oh ! there is no humanity in an
idea that denies water to any living creature. May
they be few who perish of thirst !

Once in a while I was permitted to moisten my
throat with water in which burned bread had been
soaked. That was something, but it was far from
quenching thirst.

In my pain, weakness, and bewilderment, I lost
all knowledge of time. The light told me that day
had come, and the darkness that it had gone again.
And a day seemed intolerably long — more like a
week, or month, than just a day.

The carpenter, who possessed no mean skill in
medicine, was consulting physician. Where there
it no regular physician on board a ship, the captain
is physician, ex officio.

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214' BEM1N18CENCK3 OP A

I grew rapidly worse. "The undiscovered
country from whose bourne no traveler returns —
that universal asylum where the wicked c^ase from
troubling, and the weary are at rest,*' was, seem-
ingly, not far off from me.

But at length they brought me a remedy, of
which my recollections are indistinct The proper
quantities were given me at the proper times, and
very soon the disease was checked. When it be-
came evident that I was really recovering, the car-
penter informed me that the last remedy was a
desperate one, and that, while he had one hope that
I would rally, he had nine fears that 1 would die.
I don't remember what my sensations were when
this revelation was made, but, undoubtedly, I saw
reason for rejoicing.

One day as I lay half asleep— and conseqnentiy
half awake— there came from the fore part of the
ship a thundering report. The cabin windows rat-
tled, and the ship herself quivered.

" What was that?" I asked of the first one that
came near. |

" The cannon. This is Independence Day. We
have the colors up, too.*'

"Where are we?"

" Just to the eastward of the Ladrone Islands.**

With this information I was again loft to my
^flections.

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VOYAGB ABOUND THB WOtlLD. 215

Not long thereafter, a bustle on deck drew my
attention. I listened, and presently knew that the
studding sails were running down. Soon a current
of air, cool and refreshing, poured through the open
window above my head. Then a hoarse sound was
audible without. A rain storm was rushing along
the water. Soon drops fell on the deck overhead,
at first slowly, then fast and furiously. Lulled by
the sound, I fell asleep. When I awoke the rain
had ceased. My father was standing near by.

*'We have had mutiny on board," he said.

"When?"

« To-day."

And he told me the circumstances:

Just after meridian, the weather appeared squally.
It was advisable to begin to reduce sail early with
such a crew, and the order was immediately given
to haul down the studding sails. This was done
tinder the supervision of the mate. While engaged
in making up the foretopmast studding sail, he be-
oame so enraged at the stupidity of the Kanakas,
that he kicked one fiercely several times. Instantly
the sail was dropped, and the whole posse laid vio-
lent hands on him. The boatswain, also, sprang
from the other side of the deck to aid in the launch
overboard — ^for overboard they designed to put the
mate. But, as he sprang forward, a rope roiled
under his feet, and he fell so heavily on his breast

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216 B&MIKISCSHCSS OP ▲

across tho breech of the gun, which was in front
of him, that the blood gushed from his mouth and
nostrils. By this time the Kanakas had gathered
the mate up in their arms, and had him near enough
to the low rail of the forecastle to say "Launch
Ho,'' had they been sailors, and known Knglisb
enough. Not a word was spoken, however. The
Kanakas were silent from policy, the mate from
pride and mortification. In this desperate emergen-
cy, the carpenter came bounding to the rescue.
Coming up from his be ich between decks, for some-
thing, he hjid seen the perilous condition of the
mate. Springing to the forecastle with the speed
of thonglu, he knocked down three of the savages.
The mate was dropped, and, luckily, inboard. The
Kanakas turned upon their new enemy. And to
their aid young Jolm Steward eamo rushing from
the galley, with great enthusiasm. He mounted the
forecastle, caught up a capstan bar, and directed a
blow at the cai-penter. This was easily eluded, aud
before John could recover from the force of his own
blow, the pale, slim carpenter planted his fist be-
tween his eyes, and he performed a complete baok
somersault off the forecastle, and fell head foremost
into the wash-deck tub on the main deck beneath.
At this point, the condition of affairs was observed
from the poop deck. Joe Bacon was on the end
of the spanker gaff for the purpose of painting iU

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VOYAGE ABOUND THB WOBLD* tl*l

My brother had just hoisted a keg of paiut up to
hira, by the ejisign halliards, and ray father was
hauling taut on the spanker vangs, to steady the
gaff. The two latter immediately ran forward, and
Joe, dropping his brush into the bucket, grasped
one of the vangs, .slid down, and followed after with
all speed. But before they could reach the scene
of action, the conflict was renewed. This time the
combatants were on the main deck. The mate,
grasping a stout axe handle, which had been used
for a heaver, strove to regain his lost reputation.
Bnt he was soon thrown down, and ignominiously
jerked about the deck by his hair, legs and anns.
The reinforcements coming up, the battle became
general.

On one side was legitimate authority, represented
by five whites and one black man — for the Doctor
had issued from the galley grasping his long iron
poker. On the other side was rank mutiny, per-
sonified by nine tawny savages. The issue was not
long doubtftil, however. The presence of the cap-
tain seemed to stagger the mutineei's. They had a
wholesome fear of his office, and his gigantic pro-
portions were also greatly in his favor. In a few
minutes the foremost Kanakas were forcibly and
securely ironed, and the remainder surrendered at
discretion.

A review of the field gave the following list of

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218 BBMINISCEKCES OF A

casualties : The boatswain was severely hurt by his
falL With admirable tact, he changed sides, and
declared he fell while hurrying to rescue the mate*
The contrary was known, however. Four Kanakas
had swollen eyes, and a fifth, John Steward, had a
large piece of scalp knocked off by coming in cou"
tact witJi the wash-deck tub.

On oiir side (I say our^ because my sympathies
would have been enlisted had I known what wifts
transpiring,) no injury was sustained, save that the
mate's hair was shockingly pulled.

The next step, of course, was to sit in judgment
on the offenders. But a glance to the westward
forbade all deliberation. In that quarter both, sky
and water had assumed a threatening aspect. Dark
clouds hurried up, and spread themselves along the
heavens. The north wind fell down. A hard squall
was at hand, and the ship under full sail. One
course was necessary with the refractory Kanakas.
Briefly and earnestly the captain informed them
through the boatswain— an imperfect medium, but
one that answered — that any more violence would
be punished by instant death — that guns and pistols,
and powder and ball, were plentiful in the cabin,
and that henceforth there would be no delay in
using them. So they must look out.

The irons were then taken off, and all hands
ordered to take in sail. Away went the Kanakas,

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VOYAGB AROUND THE WORLD. 219

headlong, treading on each others' heels, all zeal,
and all cheerfulness. ,

The whole thing proceeded from dislike to the
male. If any heart on board really contained any-
thing regularly mutinous and sinister, that heart
was in the breast that was bruised on the gun —
the boatswain's. Thenceforward, however, he con-
trolled himself. His hurt was internal, and did not
heal. While with us he was weak, and bled often
at the lungs, and when he left us, at Calcutta, it
was evident that his life must be short.

As for the Kanakas, it was, probably, their in-
tention to finish making up the studding sails after
tliey had thrown the mate overboard. Beyond an
impulse to take vengeance for the kicks and blows
they had received, they were innocent, I think,
though they did seem to act in concert.

The affray demonstrated that a Kanaka is not
formidable in a rough and tumble fight with a white
man. His aim in such encounters is to grapple his
opponent, hug him, and break his limbs. He does
not seem to have any conception of a trip or a
blow. And when he sees a bit of his own blood
he is disheartened. I may not present Kanaka pug-
nacity correctly, but exactly as it displayed itself
in our crew.

July 5th Guam was in sight away to the north.
This island is one of the largest of the Ladrones.

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220 BXlOSlBCXKClBfl 09 ▲

and lies farthest to the sooth. Magellan so named
theie islands on account of the thievish disposition
of their inhabitants. Ladron is a Spanish word, and
signifies a thief or a robber.

They are also called the Marianne Islands, from
a Queen of Spain who sent out missionaries to con-
vert the heathen.

This group seems to have been much frequented
by the old navigators. Besides Magellan, their dis-
coverer, Clipperton, Anson, Byron, Wallis, and others
visited them. They were discovered in 1621, and
pertain to Spain.

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YOYAGB ABOUKD THE WOBLD. 221

CHAPTER XX.

** SWINGING BOUND THE CIRCLE." — A QUESTION OF
TIME.— <5ILLOLO. — A HARD HEAD.

ULY 20lh, we passed within sixteen miles of
Mariere, an' island lying near the north-east
entrance to the Gillolo Passage. The days inter-
vening between the fourth and twentieth had given
us a sad experience. We found we had been wholly
deceived in regard to the navigation here, at this
season of the year, at least. The prevailing wind
was a westerly one, and we encountered not lei^s
than a three-knot current setting to the north-east,
a deflection of the great equatorial current, caused
by the dense congregation of islands. In the
sixteen days we had gained only about 800 miles.
It was discouraging — the more so, because contrary
to expectation. The sixteen days, however, had
wrought better things for me than for the ship.

When Mariere came into view I was able to go
on deck and behold it. There can be no doubt but
every rational being, who does not actually desire

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222 BBMINISCXKCKS OF A

to die, is, after illness, very grateful for the return
of health. At least, that was ray experience.

Let me now give, briefly, an account of our
progress for the eleven days immediately succeed-
ing. Our course lay W. S. W. for the Gillolo Pas-
sage, which I located in a former chapter. Let it
be remembered, now, that such was our course and
our position (sixteen miles south of Mariere) at noou
of July 20tb. And also, let it be borne in mind
that all that men could do to press the ship for-
ward upon htr course, was done.

Well, at noon of the 2l8t, we were 55 miles to
the south of Mariere. At noon of the 22d we were
45 miles S. S. W. At noon of the 23d we were
100 miles W. At noon of the 24th we were 176
miles N. W. by W. At noon of the 25th we were
175 miles N. W. At noon of the 26th we were 186
miles N. W. At noon of the 27th we were 240
miles N. W. by N. At noon of the 28th we were
200 miles N. N. W. At noon of the 29th we were
60 miles N. E. by E. At noon of the 20th we were
50 miles E. N. E. At noon of the Slst we were 12
miles S: by W, The circuit was completed. We
had circumnavigated Mariere. The 20th had gone,
the 31st had come, and in the interval, a period of
gales and calms, we had gained nothing. We were
four miles from our position of the 20th, but no
further on our way. Mariere, to which we bad said

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VOYAGB ABOUND THE WORLD. 223

fareweU on the 20th, was nearer on the 31st. In
27 days we had gained 800 miles — about 30 miles
a day. Was it not discouraging?

It was afternoon when I went on deck a second
time to look at Marie re. Though nearer than it was
before, nothing could be distinguished about it, save
a very well defined outline. It is a low island,
round in form, and about two miles in diameter.

It was far fi-om being a pleasant day. The sky
was dull and overcast. The ship was running
towards the N". W. under easy saiL Now and then
the branch of a tree, or its trunk, or its roots, or
the whole tree, would appear floating. Such mnsir
have come from the islands away to windward. All
these objects were surrounded by multitudes of little
fishes, and occasionally we saw great, bulky turtles
lying alongside of the trunks.

I was much better in health than when Mariere
lay in view before. I was stronger, and appetite
returning. Blood was thickening, and flesh and fat
growing again.

As the ship glided by branch after branch, I
remembered that such things once testified to Col-
umbus of an undiscovered land. It was easy for
me, under such circumstances, to fancy that I saw
the eager Admiral, impatiently pacing the deck of
his vessel, glancing now down at these tokens of
land in the water, then forward, as if he would over-
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224 BBMINISCSNCES OF A

come space by the sense of sight, and discern the
place of their nativity.

Well, good bye again, Mariere. Thy name should
have been Miserere, Then how appropriate would
it be upon our tongues!

Towards night the wind changed more to the
south, and held in that quarter until the following
night. With this wind we could run for the Mo*
lucca Passage, north of Gillolo, at an easy bowline,
while we could not head up for the Gillolo Passage
by several points. Under the circumstances it waa
decided to abandon the latter route for the Molaoca
Passage. Both led into Pitt's Passage.

At the end of forty-eight hours we were 260
miles from Mariere. This was such good progress,
comparatively, that a glow of encouragement came
over all. In the exuberance of our joy it was re-
solved to scale the gun. To test its efficiency in
shattering piratical proas, a charge of eight-inch
spikes was put in. On the weather bow, about 400
yards off, was a bunch of sea-weed. This was
chosen for a mark. The carpenter was also gunner.
He trained the piece upon the floating mass, and
at a signal from him, it was discharged by the Doc-
tor, who used for a linstock his poker, one end of
which was red hot For an instant the air was rent
by the whistling spikes, then fragments of the sea-
weed flew up as the dark water grew white be-

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VOYAGE AROUND THE WOBLD. 225

neath the plungiDg missiles. We possessed a more
formidable weapon than we had supposed. Such a
discharge would have destroyed any ordinary boat.

It is said that firing at sea will raise a breeze.
The light air blowing when we shot at the sea-weed
immediately hauled dead ahead, and increased to a
gale. The ship, under short sail and away down
on her side, made as much leeway as headway.
Our encouragement qhanged to discouragement.
Once more we "swung round the circle." August
&th we were only 135 miles from Mariere. Mariere
— Mariere — always Mariere. I won't write that
name again !

A furious current ran to the north-east, as
rapidly as four miles an hour, certainly. You will
admit that it was discouraging.

After the 9th the wind came from the south
again, and we began to move in the right direction
once more. On the 12th, we found that we were
at fault somewhere in calculating the position of the
ship.

The fact was, that we had gained the better part
of a day by sailing so far to the westward. So we
made no account of the twelfth day, in the Nautical
Almanac, but strode across it to the thirteenth.
That regulated our reckoning. Does any one ask
how that could be? Suppose that here, in Ann
Arbor, I held a portable dial in my hand, and when

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226 BBIONISCBNCES OF A

the shade upon its face marked nine o^clock Satar«
day morning, shoald, with the exact apparent ve-
locity of the sun, pass to the westward around the
earth. Every moment of time the shade would in-
dicate nine o'clock upon the dial. And, consequently
when I haH made the circuit of the earth, and
reached Ann Arbor again, it would still be nine
o'clock Saturday mornuig, %oith me. But with you
it would be far otherwise. On your dials the shade
would creep up to twelve, then retire to six, or
seven, and the sun would disappear. Those '* lesser
lights that rule the night " would succeed. At raid-
night, a new division of time would be ushered in.
In their turn, the stars would disappear, and the
sun would rise upon Sunday morning. Again the
shade would begin its slow march along the dial
face. When it indicated nine o'clock, you would
exclaim, "Nine o'clock Sunday morning." "No,'*
I should say, " it is Saturday morning. I have seen
no sun set, or rise." But I should be wrong, you
see. It would certainly be Sunday. I had con-
sumed a day, but its consumption was not indicated
to me by any of those changes which mark the
passage of time.

So to us, steering ever westward, contrary to the ro-
tary motion of the earth, more than twelve hoora of
time had passed imperceptibly; but, though we had not
regarded it before, it now became necessaryto do sow

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VOTAOB ABOUND THS WOBLD. 227

Edgar A. Poci's story of the "Three Sabbaths
in One Week," iUustrates this loss or gain of a day
by the circumDavigation of the globe.

On this day, which was ostensibly the 12th, but
really the 15th, we passed Cape North, on the north-
ern end of Morty, ran round the northern extremity
of Gillolo, and entered the Molucca Passage. Each
of the above mentioned islands were visible as we
passed. To afford us an agreeable surpiise, the
wind hauled to the S. E. The ship lay her coarse
S. S. W., down the passage. The Talenading
Islands came into view and disappeared on our lar-
board hand. The water was smooth and the wind
light. We were surprised to find whales numerous
here. In every direction their spouts were to be
seen dissolving into mist

The 17th we passed the Islands of Tyfore and
Meyo, leaving them on the starboard, or right hand
side of the ship. They lie about twenty-four miles
apart, and a little more than a third of the way
from Giilolo over to the north-east end of Celebes.

Aug. 20th we crossed the Equinoctial Line for
the third time. Nine days from that time we were
in sight of the Island of Little Po Oby. Between
the Xulla Islands and Oby Major, the passage is
narrowed down to about thirty miles in width. We
had worked down the west shore of Gillolo, about
200 miles, against gale and current, and through

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228 BVMIinSOBKOSS OF A

calms, and thereafter that island Would lie astern
of us.

And here I shall presume so much upon the
ignorance of some of my readers in East Indian
geography, as to give a little description of the
Island of Gillolo, which I have mentioned so often.

It is one of the largest of the Moluccas, or Spice
Islands, containing about 6,500 square miles. It
cannot fail to strike the eye, upon the map, on ac-
count of its grotesque form. Taking the middle part
cf it alone it is not uncommon, but when we tack
upon that, on the south, a very long, slender pen-
insula, and upon the north, a shorter and more cor-
pulent one, and upon the north-east another one
still, it becomes remarkable. It is not altogether
unlike some large, awkward bird upon the wing —
a goose, or heron, for instance. The north-east pen-
insula would represent the tail, the northern penin-
sula and the middle part the wings, and the long
southern peninsula the neck. This disposition of
the parts, however, leaves nothing for a body. It
cannot, then, altogether resemble a goose; but it
may a heron, for the hull of that bird is exceed-
ingly small compared with the length of its spars.
This singular form is thought to be the result of
violent volcanic action.

Gillolo, like many of the adjacent islands, rises
abruptly from an unfathomable sea. This is, in a

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VOYAGE ABOtTND THE WORLD. 229

measure, fatal to the productiveness of the laud bor-
dering on the sea; for the rich soil created by the
decomposition of the volcanic rock, is washed into
the ocean.

Gillolo is situated in the toirid zone, a small
part of it to the south of the Equator. Its ciim^>e,
therefore, is subject to but little change, but is al-
ways hot and unhealthy upon the lowlands, alw^ays
endurable upon the upland slopes, and always de-
lightful upon the hills.

The precious spices, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs,
and pepper, are among its vegetable productions.
It produces, also, the breadfruit tree, cocoa nut
palm, bananas, and yams. It also has the more com-
mon products of that clime, such as rice, sugar,
<»>tton, etc. Its chief exports are sago, edible birds'
nests, honey, beeswax, sandal wood, ambergris, tur-
tle shells, mother-of-pearl, pearls, and gold dust.

Its animal productions are not uncommon. Rep-
tiles and insects are numerous. Those questionable
pets, the monkey and the parrot, are natives. The
birds are remarkable for the biilliancy of their plu-
mage. The Bird of Paradise is found here, and on
many of the adjacent islands.

The human inhabitants are quite numerous, and
are of two races. In the recesses of the mountains
live the native race. Little is known of them, save
that they are a kindred race to that which inhabits

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280 BSMIKISCES^CBS OF A

New Guinea. Their conquerors, the Malays, pos-
sess the sea coast They are a treacherous and
bloodthirsty people.

Gillolo belongs, nominally, to the Dutch.

What I have said of this island is true also with
regard to the other Moluccas, save as to its size,
form, and locality.

We continued to work slowly along. Sept. 8d
the Island of Xulla Bessy was in sight on our star-
board bow. Just after midday, we had a shower
from the south, after which the wind died entirely
away. The air, cooled by the rain, was clear, re-
freshing, and delightful.

I was looking to the couth, whither our coarse
lay, and whither, as a natural consequence, our hopes
and desires pointed — and, happening to raise my
eyes somewhat, I saw a dark object standing in bold
relief against the sky in that direction. Gould it
be the Bouro Dome, or Tomahoe Mountain, so dis-
tinctly marked on the chart? Others looked and
saw the same. It was quite seventy-five miles dis-
tant. How I longed for a nearer view ! And I felt
that my longing would assuredly be realized. A
little time, and a breeze of wind would accomplish it.

This day I had evidence of the solidity of a
Kanaka^s skull. I was standing with my father at
the break of the poop deck. The Doctor^s yoice
spoke from the pantry beneath —

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VOTAOB ABOUND THE WORLD. 23X

^ **You John, dar." (John Gilpin, being useless
lamber as a sailor, had been turned over to the
oook's department, as assistant)

In response to the Doctor's call, the skeleton
liead of John Gilpin appeared at the galley door.
The eyes looked aft, and the mouth grinned.

"Fotch de baker pan," said the Doctor. Then
in an explanatory way — "To put de bread in, you
know — de biskits — hangs on de larboard sidq — d(U
Bide (gesture, probably), ob de stove." The* head
Wfts drawn back into the galley. A moment passed,
and the JSLanaka came in sight forward of the bouse^
carrying the wash-deck tub.

"Dat a pan ?" said the Doctor. " Tote dat back
— get de pan — get de baker pan — put de bread in.
You gwine to be a fool -all de time ?"

Away went John Gilpin a second time, and re-
turned with a bucket.

The Doctor's voice again — "What you bring
now? Dat's a bucket. I gib you jes' one more
chance. Fotch de pan — de baker pah.

This time John brought a pot.

" Go 'long," said the Doctor. " I fotch de pan
myself."

" Oh, you — ^you — " my father burst out " What
are you good for?"

Then snapping the rope yam that held a squash

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KSS . BBMnnSCEKCES OF A.

to the rail^ he raised the squash and hurled it at
John, shouting —

"Take that, you hrown ►scoundrel, and get oat
of my sight."

The squash flew^ through the air, and, striking
John on the side of his head, was shattered into
many pieces. The shock never jarred John, but he
was frightened, and rushed precipitately into the
galley.

The transaction forcibly reminded me of the sleep
ing Kanaka, whose head I fancied I could crmlh
with a cannon ball. Doubts now arose in 4ny mind
as to whether I should have succeeded in that un-
dertaking, or not.

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YOYAGX ABOUND THB WOBLD. k3S

CHAPTER XXL

BOURO DOME. — REEFING TOPSAILS. — THE MILKY SEA.
-CUHAVER RAMPANT. — IN SIGHT OF COPANG.

JES, it was Boaro Dome, whose summit we
had seen so far above the horisson. Sept
4th, we stood oat by the southern end of Xulla
Bessy, to the westward, and on the 6tb, having
caught a favorable breeze, reached a point within
twenty-five miles of this object of my admiration.

The next morning we lay becalmed right binder
the shadow of this magnificent mountain. On the
western side, the sea washes its base. It was well
called Bonro Dome, for apparently, no more sym-
etrical dome ever was conceived in the mind of
man, or constructed by man's hand. While we lay
in the calm sunshine — ^happy to be becalmed just
there, since becalmed we must be— some one aloft
shouted —

"Sail ho!'

"Where away?" was eagerly asked, for it was
a rare cry with us in that locality.

"On the starboard quarter.*'

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iii BEMIItlSGSKCSS OF A

That was toward the south. Looking sharply,
we saw it from deck, a mere dot or speck, on the
glassy sea. It was decided to give our neighbor a
gun, to let him know he had Christian company in
these remote seas.

The gun, which had been taken down from the
forecastle, was accordingly charged, and the muzzle
thrust out of a port on the starboard side. Bang I
There was a ringing in our ears, a trembling of the
flhip under our feet, while the wave of sound swept
outward over the calm sea.

A faint, hollow roar returned from the foot of
the mountain, but the still sea had no echoes to be
disturbed, and the report, after reaching the ears
on board the distant ship, di«d away in the distance.

It' had been evident for some time that, with
never so good a chance, we could not reach Cal-
cutta without a fresh supply of water. About us
were no convenient ports. My father had a bias for
Amboina, a Dutch settlement, a little more than
three degrees to the eastward. And if our south-
erly wind was to continue, no place was more con-
venient than that

Again the firing was quickly followed by a bi'eeze.
As usaal^ it came from the south, directly ahead.
Soon, however, it changed to the eastward and in-
creased in force. It seemed to leap in fierce gusts
from the mountain down upon the sea. The light

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VOYAGE ABOUND THK WORLD. 235 ^

sails were immediately furled, and then came the
order to reef topsails.

The fore and mizzen were settled away — the
yards ronnded in to spill the sails — the reef tackles
banled out, and amid the clatter of ropes and
threshing of canvass, we sprang into the rigging.
I was now well and strong enough to be of some
service. My aim, when I got in the rigging, was
for the weather earing of the mizzen topsaiL I
knew it Was a pretty easy place to sit, for I had
been there often. But I was not smart enough this
time. My brother passed me in spite of my best
efforts; and then I was compelled, either to take
the lee earing, or shirk a duty that custom imposed
npon me. I began to regret my hurry since I could
not' hurry enough. I always had a horror of a lee
earing, and had never hauled one out. However, I
went down the yard to leeward, caught hold of the
Bft, threw my right leg over outside of it, and set-
tled down as comfortably as I could on such an
nnoomfortable seat. The ship was away over on her
side, and the yard, as far as a perpendicular positiou
went, to all intents and purposes, a cock-bill.

Making the best I could of the matter, I thrust
one long leg through bdtween the lench of the sail
and the reef tackle, twisting the other up in the
foot rope, and went to work. While they were haul-
ing out to windward, I. got my earing clear, took a

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S36 BBMINISCBNCBS OF A

turn with it, and then found I should have a mo-
ment's leisure to look about.

I first put my hand behind me and felt the end
of the yard on which I sat, and twisted around and
looked at it. It seemed to have grown short and
small, all of a sudden, and I thought it anything
but a Inxuricus seat. As I looked at the yard, my
eyes rested for a moment on the water over which
I sat It was in wonderful commotion. The old
ship would right up a bit, then a fiercer gust would
spank her down again, and she in turn would spank
the water with her counter, and roll off a ridge of
foam. A glance at the deck showed mo the cap-
tain at the wheel, roaring out to the carpenter, and
three or four Kanakas, who were manning the gear
of the main topsail. And right in front was Bouro
Dome — no, Tomahoe Mounts I will call it now —
looking grim and inflexible like the genius of the
storm. Surely, within its bowels must be situated
the "vast cave" where "King ^olns controls the
impatient winds and sounding tempest.^' Their mur-
murs, under the restraint of their monarch, are au-
dible. Will he continue to restrain them ? Or will
he smite the enclosing walls and unchain them, and
sweep our good ship like a Trojan hulk, a wreck,
along the sea?

Think not it required as much time to see these
things as to tell of them. It was only a wandering

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WORLD. 2Z*!

glance, the space of an ordinary breath. Then the
reefers yelled " haul out to leeward," and I, having
hauled in the slack of my earing and wound it around
one hand, took hold close up to ihe cringle with the
other, and, throwing myself backward with all my
force, yelled, "Aaw/ out to leeward.'*'*

I got no more glances while there, for when I
liad passed the first earing and fastened it, and
cleared the second, they were ready to haul out to
leeward again. But my sense of feeling and my
sense of hearing, both, told me that the main top-
sail halliards were started. It was a big, heavy
piece of canvass, that main topsail, but the wind
played with it as if it had been the merest bit of
ribbon on a girl's hat. Thresh, thresh, it went, and
every spar jumped in concert. But machinery and
skill prevailed, and it was soon quieted.

Slowly we surged off from the angry, windy
mountain. To double reefs succeeded close reefs.
The main sail was furled, and the foresail reefed.
By-and-by everything was furled except the main
spencer and fore topmast staysail.

In the darkness, the foam that covered the sea
showed ghastly white. We ventured to think that
such a gale, long continued, would land us on the
coast of Celebes. We had Capt. Woodward's nar-
xative of hi9 captivity there, on board, and had read
it. We were quite willing to credit all that he said,

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2d& BBMINISCENCES OF A

and did not desire at all to have such scenes come
under our own personal observation.

Contrary to our expectations, but in conformity
with our wishes^ the wind abated after midnight,
and worked back to the south. Wc made sail,
piece by piece, and at noon tacked in shore again.
At five p. M. we were well in with the land^ with
all sail set. We had altered the bearing of Bouro
Dome four points. It bore now N. E. But it was
a perfect dome, look at it from what direction we
might.

It was pleasant sailing that afternoon. The water
was smooth, and there was just a good wholesale
breeze blowing. Every sail was set that would draw
on a wind, and with a good rap full, we went
racing in.

Reader, have you sailed much in small sail boats ?
If you have, you will remember how, when close in
to the land, and standing directly for it on the wind,
a boat's speed seems to increase. The water is
usually smoother. Gust after gust will come, bend-
. ing the boat gracefully down, and giving her such
a bounding impulse that she seems to leap along.
Just so our ship raced in towards Bouro. Objects
grew more and more distinct. The indentures of
the shore, the paths of rivulets, vast fragments of
stone, and the luxurious vegetation, were plainly
visible ; but we looked in vain for a sign of human

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VOYAGE ABOLKD THE WOBLD,

existence. There was nothing — no habitation, no
appearance of cultivation, no proas floating in the
little bay. Let no one suppose, however, that Bouro
was not inhabited. Just now a careful observer
would have detected something unusual in the move-
ments of all hands. In silence the mate gravitated
-towards the forecastle; in silence the second mate
scrutinized the coils of the lee braces; in silence
the men gathered in the waist ; in silence the Doc-
tor thrust his head out of the galley door. Mean-
while the captain, silent too, paced the weather side
of the poop deck. As if worked by machinery, all
eyes turned upon him when he walked forward,
and turned upon the shore when he walked aft.
Each turn the captain's pause at the break of the
poop was longer. At length he broke the silence.

"Ready about!" he said, and waved his hand
to the helmsman.

Instantly " ready about " resounded fore and aft,
succeeded by the falling of coils of rigging upon
the deck, and the metallic clank of the sister-hooks
in the iron thimbles, as the clues of the mainsail
rose. The captain walked aft, and stood by the
wheel. Steadily the helmsman turned it.

" Hard-alee ! " shouted the captain.

" Hard-a-lee ! " echoed the mate from the fore-
castle, and the next instant the flop of canvass in

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240 BBMINISCENCBS OF A

that direction indicated that he had eased off the
jib sheets.

The ship's bows came swiftly up to the wind.
The current of air drew fairly fore and aft.

" Mainsail haul ! "

" Mainsail haul ! " repeated many voices, and the
yards of the main mast and the mizzcn mast were
swung with an accompaniment of sound from iron
trusscif^, blocks, ropes, and human throats. The ship,
in the smooth water, woiked like a fore and-after,
forereaching rapidly as the wind against tlie head
sails bore her bows off.

^'Let go and haul!'' said the captain, rubbing
his hands.

The head yards were swung, the wheel was
righted, the main tack was boarded, jets of spray
began to be thrown from the bow, the ship with
Bouro astern, like the canoe of Hiawatha

"Westward * • • •
Sailed into the fiery sunset,
Sailed into the purple vapors,
Sailed into the dusk of evening.

As soon as we were far enough south to fetch
by the southern shore of Bouro, our course was
shaped for Amboina. This was the 9th of Septem-
ber. The wind was light, and our progi'ess corres-
pondingly slow. At two o'clock we discovered a
sail on the weather beam. It neared us, and we

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WOBLD. 241

Boon made ^t out to be a proa, running down before
the wind. If fears of a piratical craft entered our
xninds they did not remain long, for the proa kept
on her course, and at dark had crossed our wake,
and was scarcely discernible on the lee quarter. It
was probably a merchant proa, coasting from island
to island.

The next day the wind came fresh from the east,
directly ahead for Amboina, but a good wind for
our proper course. After a little deliberation Am-
boina was given up, and Copang, on the Island of
Timor, a place lying in our way, chosen for a stop-
ping place. So the ship was kept off S. S. W. for
the Ombay Passage. The wind gradually freshened,
and we made good progress across the Banda Sea.
Many whales were visible.

When night came a surprise awaited us. The
water appeared to be white — as white as milk. We
puzzled our brains for an explanation of the phenom-
enon, guessing with that recklessness characteristic
of Yankees everywhere. But as there was no one
to say when we guessed rights it was all unsat-
isfactory.

I quote, as an explanation of the appearance,
two or three paragraphs that went the rounds of
the papers several years ago. It will be seen that
our locality and that of Capt Trebuchet were nearly
the same.

VorM« Around th« World. * ^

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842 BBHINISCXNCSS OF A

" The French Minister of Marine has sent to the
Academy of Science, in Paris, a report of Oapt.
Trebuchet, of the corvette Capricieuse, in which it
is stated that on the night of the 20th of August,
1860, when about twenty miles from Amboina, he
and iiis crew beheld the curious spectacle of the
Milky Sea, and what the Dutch call the Winter Sea,
because the sky and water present the appearance
of fields covered with snow.

^' The phenomenon lasted from 7 p. x. until day-
light. It was at first attributed to the refiection of
the moon, which was then about three days old ;
but as the appearance continued after the moon had
set, this explanation was discarded. A bucketful of
sea water having been drawn up and examined, it
was found to contain about 200 groups oif animal-
culao, of about the thickness of a hair each, but of
varying length. They adhered to each other like
strings of beads, and emitted a light similar to that
of the glow-worm and fire-fly.

^ "It was admitted that the white appearance of
the sea was caused by these minute creatures, the
number of which must have exceeded all human
calculatiou.^'

A long time I sat and watched, in wonder, the
changed color of the water. When I, at length,
turned. in, I hoped that the consciousness that we
were making good progress would insure a fine

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Y0YA6B ABOITNB THS WOBLD. 243

night's rest. We were destined, however, to expe-
rience a little interruption of that night's slumbers.
I was awoke by the noise of a scuffle on the deck
overhead. The captain sprang from liis swinging
cot, and rushed up the steps shoeless and hatless.

I will acQuunt now for the noise. It was. the
mate's watch, and Cuhaver had the wheel. The
former lectured the latter severely upon his steering,
and not satisfied with that, struck him on the head
with an iron belaying pin. Thereupon Cuhaver (un-
harmed by the blow — another proof of the thickness
of a Kanaka's skull,) let go his hold upon the wheel,
and threw his arms about the mate so as to pinion
that officer's arras completely. Then he began to
chant a dismal song, griping more and more tightly
his struggling victim. What he intended to do with
him, heaven only knows.

At this juncture my father reached the deck.
Seeing that the ship would be caught aback unless
the helm was immediately put up, he bestowed one
blow upon Cuhaver, and ran to the wheel. Stunned
by the blow, which took effect upon the left side
of his under jaw, Cuhaver fell, with his armful,
across the top of a sky-light. Others soon reached
the scene of action, and just in time to prevent the
mate, who had escaped from the relaxed grasp of
Cabaver, from taking signal vengeance on that dusky
savage. Through the remainder of the night Cu-

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244 BBHI^SCENCES OF A

haver wore those pccnliar bracelets manufaetared
for the wrists of refractory men.

In the morning an investigation of the affair was
made. In the midst of'the testimony, however, the
captain broke out in expressions of disgust, and-
would hear no more. The irons were removed from
Cuhaver, and he, wita a twisted jaw and swollen
face, went about his business. Ihis day the car-
penter was added to the mate*s watch.

We spent one more night upon the Banda Sea,
ploughing its milky waves, and on the f'^llowing
morning made the Island of Ombay right ahead.
We then tacked, and stood to the N. E. until we
saw the Island of Wetter, laying on the east side
of the passage, when we went about again to the
south. 'Ihat afternoon we passed the high, rocky
island of Po Cambing, and on the following morning
the north-west shore of Timor was in sight. During
the day and the succeeding night we ran along the
shore, not very fai* from it.

At ten o'clock the next day the Bay of Copang
opened before us. For a little while it was calm;
then a breeze began to set shoreward. With the
breeze, a topsail schooner came ia sight to the south,'
steering into the bay. As our courses converged, '
we soon drew near to each other. The spy-glasses
were in great requisition, and almost constantly
directed in search of the town. Presuming the

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VOYAQB AROtTND THE WORLD, ^45

schooner to be better acquainted with the navigation
than ourselves, we furled the royals, hauled up the
courses, and fell into her wake. By-and-by, looking
carefully, we could discern a little settlement nestled
among the trees. It was flanked in one direction
by a fortification, and there was a snip lying at an-
chor in front, seeming close in.

Google

840 BBMINIBOSNeBS OF ▲

CHAPTER XXII.

AT COPANG.

)HE nationality and character of the strange
ship were immediately subjects of animated
discussion. My father thought it to be some Dutch
man-of-war that belonged on the station. The mate
and the carpenter inclined to the opinion that it was
the periodical Dutch ship, come for the products of
the island.

In the midst of the discussion my brother, who
was looking through a glasF, declared the ship^iad
colors flying. This announcement closed the argu-
ment, and the glasses were again leveled at the
stranger. All saw the flag, but none could say of
what nation it was. The distance was too great
I eagerly snatched the first glassthat was laid down,
and went with it to the forward part of the poop.
Descending the steps half way to the main deck, I
adjusted it nicely, leaned it steadily on the comb*
ings of the aperture, aiid applied my eye. I saw
bunting waving at the stranger's gaflT, but it blew
directly from us, and I could make out nothing. I

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VOYAGE AROUNB- THE WOBLD. SS47

watched narrowly. By-and-by a furtive gust blew
it sidewise, and spread it without a fold across my
line of vision. There was no mistaking it I shot
up the steps and rushed aft, exclaiming —

" She's an American ship ! "

I had seen the stars and stripes as plainly as I
could wish to.

"An American ship?" said my father, rather
questioningly, looking again through the glass. " Oh,
a whaler. I see her boats now."

Soon he caught a view of her flag, and added,
^^She is an American, that's a fact."

We aU felt a peculiar satisfaction when it was
settled, beyond a doubt, that we had fallen in with
our own countrymen.

We passed a small, low, sand island on the right,
when within a mile of the shore, came to the wind,
and lay with our main topsail to the mast We lay
some time wondering at the apathy of our country-
men, since we had the signal for a pilot flying. At
length a boat was discovered pulling off from the
shore. It came with great swiftness. When near
at band, we saw that it was a whale boat, manned
by white men, and we rightly conjectured that it
was the property of the whaleship, and manned by
whalemen. The side ladder was lowered. The boat
swept alongside, and the officer who sat in the stern
came rapidly up the ladder. He anno^

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248 lUBBMUnSCKNCBS OF A

as the captain of the New Bedford whaleslup JPhM-
niXy and received a very warm welcome.

" You must excuse our tardiness," he said. " I
was on shore, and my mate sent a boat for me,
supposing that I would prefer to come off to .you
myself."

Under his direction we filled away, and ran in
and anchored to the south of his ship, and about
half a mile from the shore.

Copang — written also Coopang, Coupang, C<b-
pang, and KoBpang — is also known as Fort Con-
cordia. The event most likely to make it a place
of interest to the general reader, is that it was the
end of Lieut Bligh's remarkable boat voyage.

He was forced from his ship in the vicinity of
the Friendly Islands. From thence to Copang, a
distance of about 3,600 miles, he sailed in an open
boat, only twenty- three feet in length, six feet nine
inches in width, and two feet nine inches deep. The
occupants of the boat were eighteen in number.
Their whole stock of provisions was 150 pounds of
bread, sixteen pieces of pork, six quarts of rumi and
twenty-eight gallons of water. After reaching New
Holland they landed frequently and obtained fresh
food. The time cons^-med was forty-seven days.
The Dutch residents of Copang gave them a most
hospitable reception, providing for all their wants.

The day of our arrival was Sunday at Copang,

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voyAgb around the world. 249

but Saturday with us ; for, though we bad made the
requisite change in the day of the month, we had
not yet changed the day of the week. We did now,
however, and the day which began with us as Sat-
urday ended as Sunday.

The ensuing day we commenced operations. My
father proceeded to the shore with the captain of
the whaleship, whose name I have forgotten. The
presence of the Phcenix in this port was of great
advantage to us. Iler captain, having already been
through the process of procuring supplies, greatly
aided my father by his advice. Bright and early,
the mate turned all hands to on the water casks.
We had a busy day, breaking out, striking out, tow-
ing ashore, etc.

* Copang had her harbor merchants, bumboatmen,
or whatsoever they may be called, as well as more
frequented ports. Half a dozen soon found their
way on board our ship, each intent upon turning an
honest penny — the penny anyhow — they did not care
so much whether it was an honest one, if so they
got it They dealt in monkeys, parrots,«and fruits.
But we could not negotiate with them that day.
** No time," we told them. " No money for trade
to-day. Come again to-morrow." They went away
reluctantly.

Tuesday, my brother and myself, in company
with the carpenter, visited the whaleship. On mount-
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250 REMINISCENCES OF A

ing to ber deck, we were greatly aBtonished at be-
holding, mixed up with the pigs on the main deck^
on the timber heads, on the hatches, in the boats^
monkeys — everywhere, monkeys!

The carpenter soon paired off with his brother
** chips," and my brother also found his " affinity."
I stuck by an old weather-beaten tar, who was very
pleasant and gossippy.

"How came you," I asked hira, at length, "to
buy such a drove of monkeys ?"

He laughed. " I'll tell you," he said, " and you'll
be able then to get a plenty of them without pay-
ing for them« Have they been on board your ship
with them yet?"

"Yes."

" Had strings to them and made them fast when
they got them on deck, didn't they, and then went
hunting and peering about?"

"Yes."

"Well, when they come aboard again, and tie
their monkeys, do you, as soon as they travel out
of sight, <^t the animals loose. That's the way we
got our monkeys. They can't catch* them again, any
more than I can catch this one."

So saying, the old sailor walked slowly up to a
young monkey that was sitting on the fife-rail erf
the foremast, and looking gravely at him. Without
stirring or winking, the hairy creature let the man's

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VOYAGE AROUND THJ& WOBLD. 251

hand approach him within an inch ; then, with a sad-
den jump, and a loud chatter, he flew up the rope
nearest to him. His chatter was echoed from all
parts of the ship, and a stampede of monkeys be-
gan. They rushed up the ri.fijging— they gallopped
along the raU^-they raced about the boats — and one,
about the size of a child of eight years of age, sprang
(m the back of a pig, and rode forward, escorted by a
troop of his smaller brethren.

I was fairly frightened. My mind was made up
at once not to cast any monkeys loose on board^of
the Hampton, nor suffer any one else to do it, if I
could help it. I felt relieved when we returned to
our own ship.

This day, having received a supply of coin cur-
rent at Copang, we made some purchases. The
mate bought a young monkey and a paroquet.

Somebody followed the example of the whalemen,
and cast loose half a dozen monkeys while their
owner was in the galley driving % bargain with the
Doctor. They mounted the rigging, with their
strings dangling behind. After numerous and per-
severing efforts, four were recaptured, and the re-
maining two took passage with us to Calcutta. One
more, a small and very amiable monkey — a present
to my father--completed our list of these animals.

One article offered for sale here was sugar, done
tip in a very peouHar manner. A vessel '''

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252 HBMIKISCENCES OF A

cated of palm leaf on the model of a baker's pan
— ^not qnite as long and wide, bnt of the same depth.
Into this vessel the sugar, which was said to be
made from the sap of the palm, seemed to have
been poured in a liquid state. As it grew hard it
naturally adhered^to t^e bottom and stdes. At one
end of the vessel was a bail, also of palm leaf, by
which it was carried very conveniently. The sugar
inside had no disposition to drop out, so you see
these articles were portable in the highest degree. A
man could hang as many of them on his arm as he
could carry.

The sugar was of the same color as our maple
sugar, and had much the same taste. It was very
cheap, one of these vessels filled with it, costing
but a trifle.

Wednesday, the driving part of the work being
over, my brother and myself visited the town, taking
Joe Bacon along with us. Copang consisted of two
streets parallel wi^h the beach, and less than half a
mile in length. Across these at right angles ran two
or three rather devious paths. Through the place,
from rear to front, ran a shallow stream of water.

We went first with my father, to the house of a
lady with ^whom his business had made him ac-
quainted. She was Chinese, but spoke English very
well. Her husband, who was the principal mer-
chant of the place, was then absent on business in

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V0YA6X AROXnXD THS WORLD. 253

apoiher pai-t of the island. We remained half an
hour, hearing the little lady chat. When we rose
to depart she gave us a vei-y kind invitation to re-
turn and drink coffee with her when it should be
noon. This we declined as politely as we knew
, how, and having said good-bye to our hostess, and
Ustened to some warning words from the captain,
sallied forth.

We first turned to the right, and crossing the
stream on a rustic kind of bridge, went towards the
fort. The entrance was open, and a sentinel pacing
in iront. We asked if we coyld go inside. He
shook his head. We took this for a negative an-
swer, though I have since thought he did not under-
stand us, and wished to express as much by shaking
his head.

Denied admittance, as we thought, we walked
airound the walls outside. We were not much im-
pressed by the strength of Fort Concordia. It was
doubtless intended as a protection against any hos-
tility on the part of the natives. For that purpose
it answered very well, but a civilized enemy, with
cannon, would soon knock it down. In our circuit
we came upon a target which had been considerably
- riddled by bullets. This target was so placed that
the balls after passing though it, or bj/ it, accord-
ing as the shooting was good or bad, struck an angle
of the fort The wall at this point was much defaced.

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254 BSMiiascsNCES of a

From the fort we went back across the bridge,
and then tnrnicg, followed the stream, leaving the
town behind. Soon we seemed to be '' walking in
enchanted bowers." In places, so dense was the
vegetable growth that the sun's rays penetrated only
here and there. The tree was overhead ; the shrub
was on the right hand and on the left, and the vine
was not only above and around, but also under fool.
Where the sun's rays did penetrate, their golden
gleams contrasted strikingly and pleasantly with the
deep green of the huge fan-like leaves. Out from
this cooling shade ye stepped, and stood in romantic
glades where the sunlight was unobstructed. A few
steps carried us across these, and we walked through
groves of the tall cocoa nut palm. All around, de-
licious fruits were growing, and everywhere a pleas-
ant odor was diffused about Birds flitted firom tree
to tree, startling the eye by momentary exhibitions
of their bright plumage.

We returned to the town, and all our i^eeable
sensations fled. The men who were bom lords of
this sou and its gorgeous productions, were not in-
viting characters. We passed from end to end of
the chief streets. On each side, on the threshdlda
of the houses, sat rows of half naked, swarthy, fero-
cious wretches. Each held across his lap a long
gun, with rusty barrel, and unvarnished and oa-
stained stook, and to the side of each was sttaohed

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VOYAGX ABOinn> THfi WOBLD. 255

a crooked, ugly-looking knife. They were all mo-
tionless as statues, and regarded us with a fixed
stare as we passed along.

Why they were squatted down there, from end
to end of the streets, we could not conjecture. I
think they could not have been inhabitants of the
town, but were from the countiy, and came on
business or for pleasure.

The houses near the beach were chiefly stores,
and kept by Chinese. At these we made some pur-
chases, and were then ready to go on board. On
the beach we encountered some of the whalemen.
We told them where we had been, and asked if we
had seen all the objects of interest.

"All," they said, "except the Joss-House."

"What is that?"

" Where they keep their idol and have their fire."

The place was at a distance, and a boat was on
it9 way from the ship for us, so we were compelled
to forego a sight of the Joss-House, and his honor,
the Joss.

Timor is 250 miles long, with an average width
of thirty miles, and contains upwards of 6,000 square
ndles. It is remarkable on one account. A chain
of Mgb mountains traverses it, and on the side of
this chain towards Australia, the animals bear a re-
semblance to those of Australia, while those on the

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^56 BEMimSCBKCES OF A

opposite side are closely allied to the fauna of Soin-
atra and Java.

Timor belongs jointly to the Datch and Portu-
gese. Copang is the chief port It is easy of ac-
cess, furnishes good water and plentiful supplies of
poultry and vegetables.

The Malays are not credited by authorities with
many — ^indeed, I may say, any — ^virtues. Their chiet
characteristics are jealousy, pride, cunning, and du-
plicity. They have a predilection for the sea, and
when once on it, if they have the power, and the
opportunity occurs, they are, of course, guilty of
piracy.

A few months before our arrival, some proas
had captured a brig about thirty miles up the coast.
All hands were barbarously murdered, a,pd the vessel
plundered and burned.

The practice of " running amuck*' is a peculiarity
of this people. To " run amuck " is to rush fero-
ciously along a street, stabbing, biting' and anathe-
matizing every person who is met The fate of the
person who runs amuck is that which a mad dog
meets with us.

^I thought there was a fine chance for an exhibi-
tion of this characteristic pastime in the streets of
Copang. I should have been a pleased spectator
as long as I could have been a safe one ; but while
there was any possibility that a "i

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WOSLD. 257

find its way between my own ribs, I should have
objected to it, and if my objections had been un-
availing, I should have removed myself as speedily
and as remotely as possible.

As we looked back after getting on board the
ship, the place appeared marv^elously fair, with its
encircling palms, and background of wood crowned
heights. But this is a world of compensation. • Who
would rather be a Malay, among the profusion of
the tropics, than an Anglo-Saxon in a temperate
zone?

t«,M.AliP«.World. 1» ogtzedbyGoOgle

258 maMDflSO M ffOBS OF L

CHAPTER XXIII.

A DBSBBTBB. — ^DBPABT FBOIC COPANQ. — WBBSTUira.

AKOTHBB HABD HBAD.

^£ reached the ship at four o'clock la the
afternoon. Before dark a rumor was in
circulation that two of the whaleship's crew intended
to desert that night, and conceal themselves on hoard
of us. It was our design to sail in the morning.
Well, morning came, and scarcely was the sun risen
before a boat, well manned, pulled towards us from
the PhcBniz. The captain was in the stem. He
came immediately on board, and after exchanging
the usual salutations with my father, unfolded the
object of his early visit.

" One of my men," he said, " has deserted. He
left the ship last night, and I am almost certain
that he came on board of you, and has concealed
himself."

" There was a report yesterday," my father said,
" that two of your men intended to desert to us. If
one has deserted, he may be on board, though I ,

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T0YA6B ABOUKD THB WORLD. 259

have no knowledge of the fact. If you desire to do
so, you can search the ship."

*' Tumble up here,'' said the captain to his men
in the boat. " We will search for him."

A systematic search of the ship was instituted.
No part was exempt, except the cabin. I stood on
the poop deck ani observed that part of the search
which was going on above deck. Two whalemen
mounted the house, and peered about under the boats
which were stowed there. Not finding anybody,
they lifted the folds of the main topmast staysail,
which was stowed between the boats. I noticed,
as they did so, that a meaning glance passed be-
twe^i them. They said nothing, however, bat de-
scended to the deck, and with a brie^ " Nobody
there," joined in the search in the hold. There the
men were equally unsuccessfhl.

All now gathered about the gangway, and direct-
ed their eyes towards their disappointed captain. I
said all looked towards their captain. I should have
excepted one stout, sandy-complexioned, and sandy-
whiskered man. He was not, like tiie others, con-
tent with what had been done. Perhaps he was
content with what he had himself done ; but he had
not searched any on deck — a part of the ship that
now underwent his earful, personal superviidon.
^ He mounted the house and looked p^rseveringly
under the boats. Being so oonspiottoaBly engaged,

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260 BBMUnSCENGBS OF A

he became the objeot upon which all eyes were'
fixed. The group at the gangway turned from their
captain to him. The two captains, and all our silent
attentive crew, centered their gaze upon the sandy
man. He was a sort of forlorn hope. No one spoke
a word.

Fruitless was Sandjf'^man's seeking under the
boats. Hopeful stiU, he tried the staysail. Up came
one fold — ^nobody; another fold — nobody; a third
fold— "Ha! here he is!"

Well done! Sandy-man — well done! But why
do you descend so hastily from your elevation?

A lithe, active-looking young man rose slowly
up, and disengaged himself from the staysail. Look-
ing around, his eyes caught Sandy's retreating form«
He jumped from the vicinity of the sail, and shaking
his fist at the man, shouted out:

"So you want to be a boal-steerer, do you?
Just get up here again, and we'll see which is the
best man. Curse a man that'll betray a shipmate !
Curse a man that'll curry favor with the captain I
Oh, you'll be made a boat-steerer for this ! "

All this time the young man walked hurriedly
about the little space between the boats.

*^ I dare you," he continued to the man, " to come
up here and stand before me. You're bigger than
I am, I know, but I won't mind that"

Sandy muttered out something. He did not ao-

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VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 261

oept the challenge. He looked — if I must tell it —
Sandy looked dreadfully coufused.. Now the excited
man's remarks about currying favor witli the cap-
tain,* might have been unjust. This did not appear
in Sandy's countenance, however. He held his head
down, and did not choose to meet the indignant
eyes of his ship mates — for his shipmates did not
admire his deed, that was plain enough.

The deserter's harangue was interrupted by his
captain.

" That will do, Jack — that will do. Get into the
boat now, and we'll go aboard."

" Get into the boat ! " repeated Jack, with a toue
and countenance of despair — then jumping up and
down, and smiting his fists together, he burst forth :

" Curse your boat, and you too, sir ! Curse your
old ship! I've slaved in her, and starved in her
long enough. Here we've been out sixteen months,
and havn't got oil enough yet to grease your way
to the infernal regions — "

"Hush! hush!" his captain interrupted; "don't
make yom* case any worse — it's bad enough now.
Get into the boat at once, and let's have no more
of such folly."

" I v)on^t get into the boat unless the captain of
this ship tells me to. Till he says go, you can't all
I of yon take me off this house.'^

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262 ^ BBMINISCSKCBS OF A

The whaleship oaptain stepped back, and my
father said:

" Yon must go into the boat, my poor i'ellow, for
I have no right in the world to detain yon."

" I'll ask yon nothing for my services, captain.
All I ask is to be delivered from — "

" Say no more," said my father, interrnpting him,
^'for it is useless. Yonr captain has treated me
kindly, and aided me in many ways. Without his
fuU consent I cannot take you. I have not the righ^
the inclination, or the power to do so."

" Farewell, Hope, then," said the runaway ; and
he slowly descended from the house. " As for yon,"
turning to Sandy, " if I don't be even with yon,
may I perish."

Poor fellow I I have always had a wish to know
what happened to him afterwards. Some of our
crew were aware that he was on board. He went
on shore first from his own ship, and came off to
our's about midnight, in a canoe. Another did in-
tend to come with him, but his courage failed him.
The two men whom I saw overhaul the staysail saw
their shipmate, but they were unlike Sandy. That
worthy, doubtless, had in view a boat-steerer's berth.

After the whaleship's boat had departed, we got
under way and w«nt to sea. The wind was favor-
able, and we soon left all the land astern, and found
ourselves sailing on the skirts of the Indian Ocean*

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VOTAGH ABOinm THB WOBLD.

Ooi: progress grew more respeotaWe, and better
spirits than formerly prevailed on board. After
reaching the longitude of Java Head, onr coarse
began to incline to the north.

Going forward one evening, daring the dog
watch, I found Joe Bacon and the Kanakas good*
naturedly discussing Ouhaver's attack npon the mate
while we were crossing the Banda Sea. The con-
versation was carried on in mongrel English phrases,
with now and then a brief translation by the boat-
swain. Joe represented that the mate could not be
much, or he would soon have settled his besurish
antagonist. As for himself, though he was no fighter,
be would like to see the Kanaka who could hold
him, even one instant, in anger.

This provoked some bragging on the part of the
Kanakas. Finally Big Man said to Joe:

** You nothing — me can make you go down with
one hand."

**Not with both, big as you be,^' retorted Joe.

*' Spose try." And Big Man laughed, and all the
Kanakas laughed in concert.

^^ Come on," responded Joe, nothing daunted.

*^ No fight," said Big Man, ^' but me make young
brag go down."

So he went cautiously up, and laid his great
hands on Joe's shoulders. But no sooner did they
rest, even lightly, there, than Big Man's heels flew

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!264 HBKIKISCBKCIES OF A

np, and his broad shoulders struck on the deck like
a bale of hides. All the Kanakas uttered ejacula-
tions of astonishment and wonder.

Joe had hardly moved. He was a skillful wrest-
ler, and did his work quickly. The Kanakas, having
no conception of a trip, could not comprehend what
floored their champion.

Big Man got up and rubbed his shoulders. He
looked a little confused, but was still good-natured.
He proposed to try it again. He did, and went
^own as quickly as before, and declined a third trial.
Joe then challenged the othera, but there was no
response.

"See this, then,'' said Joe, and immediately
turned several somersaults, some forward and some
backward. These feats, remnants of his circus per-
formances, enhanced the astonishment of the Kana-
kas. They gave him credit for superior powers.
He claimed them, and vaunted finely.

An idea striking Big Man just then, he pointed
to me, and said:

"Can put him down?"

"Just as easy as I can turn my hand over."
And Joe elevated his nose, as if I were a very con-
temptible antagonist.

"You can't do it, Joe," said I, stung by his
contempt.

" Come out here," he said.

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I stepped out Joe laid his right hand on my
left shoulder, and gave me a jerk, accompanied by
a quick trip on the left heel. But I had not been
ten years, summer and winter, to a district school,
for nothing, I was moderately expert at *^ rough
and tumble,'^ and though Joe followed up his first
trip by others quicker and more furious, I found no
difficulty in shoring myself up. My arms were longer
than his, and I thrust him back so far that he found
difficulty in tripping. Then I assumed the offensive^
and tried in many ways to upset him, but I could not.

Our struggles were too exhausting to last long*
Making two legs answer for half a dozen, and my
offensive movements, soon put me out of breath.
And Joe's unremitted exertions had winded him,
S0| as if by mutual agreement, we separated.

All this was sport for the Kanakas. They laugh-
ed and chattered like magpies, and when Joe drew
back, puffing, they asked him —

"Where your smart? You no put him down.
Where your brag?"

After that day, whenever Joe could find me out
of sight of the officers, he would clinch me. In
these encounters his aim was to close with me, and
mine was to prevent him. For some time, therefore,
there was no decisive struggle. At length, he got
inside of my arms, and took a back hold. Down
I went! Joe began to exult My best "hold" at

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wrestling was at what we used to call "side hold"
at school. I offered battle again. Joe rushed is,
but before he could get a grasp behind me, I whirled
around, bringing him on my right side. As I whirled,
I passed my ri^t arm around his waist, and grasped
his right hand with my left. I was all right then,
and before Mr. Bacon saw through it, he was upon
his back on the deck, and I was lying across his
breast So we were square* And we kept about
square thereafter.

One day my father surprised us in the midst of
a furious heat. We received a short and impressive
lecture, such as only seafaring men can give, and I
was particularly warned never to be caught wrest-
ling again. It was very hard for Joe to abstain.
For sometime after, whenever lie met me his aroM
were involuntarily stretched out towards me.

October 6th we crossed the Equator again, and
were once more in the Northern Hemisphere. We now
experienced a great deal of unpleasant weather. One
afternoon the wind began to blow hard from the
K. S. We took in one sail after another, until
nothing was left on the ship but the close reefed
topsails, reefed foresail, main spencer, ,and fore-top*
sail staysail. We were on a vdnd, lying as near it
as we could.

Just after it became dark a furious squall struck
usj accompanied by torrents of rain. The ship went

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down upon her broadside fearfully, almost upon her
beam eods. After infinite labor we got the topsails
clewed up, the foresail hauled up, and the staysail
hauled down.

The Kanakas were almost useless. In the in-
tense darkness they could not find the ropes, and
they seemed paralyzed by the unparalleled roar of
the tempest. When we went aloft to furl the top-
sails, they went with us, but neither persuasion nor
blows could induce them to get upon the yards*
They clung, in the rigging, indifferent to all that was
said or done to them.

I shall never forget the toil, and the consequent
exhaustion of that night. When at length, no more
could be done towards making the ship snug, we
dragged ourselves, with limbs trembling with fatigue,
to our respective stations. This gale abated the next
day. The incompetency exhibited by the Kanakas
made us dread the occurrence of the next.

An accident befell Big Man . one day. At the
foot of the forecastle steps was a hatchway opening
into the lower hold. For some purpose the steps
were removed, and this hatchway opened. Big Man
came from the wheel, and not knowing what had ;
been done, and without looking before him, began
to descend into the forecastle as if the steps were
there. He fell, of course, and in falling he con-
trived to turn heels up, and go through the hatch-j^;;

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way below head foremost. On the keelson, just
under this hatchway, the kedge anchor was lying,
and about it quite a number of sacks of coarse salt.
^ As he came down, Big Man's head struck fairly on
the shank of the anchor, and his body bumped
down upon the sacks of salt. How far were his
brains scattered? the reader may ask.

He was a man weighing three hundred pounds,
and he had fallen twenty feet without hindrance,
and had alighted head foremost on the shank of an .
anchor. The inquiry is.peitinent — How far were
his brains scattered?

If he had any, they were undisturbed. His sole
hurt was a piece of scalp knocked off !

Now, in the name of common sense, of what was
the skull composed that withstood such a shock? If
of common material, how thick was it?

Again my mind reverted to my Kanaka on the
hill behind Honolulu. Fancy should play me no
more such tricks, I resolved. In what way would
a mere thirty-two pound cannon ball, dashed by a
human hand, harm the head of a Kanaka ?

How invaluable is experience!

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CHAPTER XXIV.

WHIBLWINDS. — THE MONKSTS PBBFOBM. — ^THE HOO-
GLY. — CALCUTTA AT LAST.

|N£ whole season, as we measure time here
in our temperate zone, had passed since we
left Honolulu, we were in the middle of a second,
and still our destination was distant. The weather
was very fretful, and the safety of the ship required
unremitting vigilance on the part of the officers.

We thought one day, even after the Bay of Ben-
gal was no longer remote, that we should never
sail upon its waters, and that our prolonged voyage
would suddenly end in the quiet of the ocean's
depths.

A chaffing, vexing, wearying morning had suc-
ceeded a laborious night. The varying wind, un-
steady in force and direction, had brought us to
close reefs, and then died away. While we waited,
grimly watching the leaden ^ky and blank horixon,.
roaring, shrieking, and whistling pounds arose ahead
of us, astern of us, on the right hand and on the
left. And in as many directions, and more, not lar

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of^ the water became agitated. It rose and fell
like water boiling over a fire. It foamed, and a
thick mist went up from it. Then the water itself
rose slowly up — rose as the potter's clay rises — and
the hand of the fierce whirlwind shaped it. From
the peaked tops the great drops rained off like drops
from a whirling water-wheel. These creations, re-
ceiving the power of motion, began to traverse the
sea. Some moved towards us — some went from us.
They performed a kind of solemn dance, approach-
ing each other and retiring again, and swaying
measuredly from side to side. It was a superstition
among the Arabs that whirlwinds on the desert, and
whirlwinds and waterspouts on the sea were caused
*by swift motions of the evil Genii. It was easy to
ccHieeive of these objects about us as gigantic Jinnees
dancing to appropriate music, which they themselves
furnished. Gigantic Jinnees, I say, for these flexible
columns of water were, in height, from thirty to
fifty feet. We stood watching the approaching mon-
sters, anticipating destruction, but giving it no
thought. Escape seemed impossible; the ship was
motionless — there was not a breath of wind to fill
the little sail that was spread.

But our time was not come. One that had been
slowly approaching on our larboard beam-— one that
we expected would fall upon us and rend ub to
shreds, hurling our spars aloft as an angry child «

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hurls jackstrawfl — ^that one an Unseen Hand tamed
aside, and it went roaring by our bow. Another
at the same time, was moving down upon our star-
board quarter. There seemed no possibility of es-
cape. Indeed, we had no hope. But the Unseen
Hand was again stretched out. A puff of wind
struck us on the starboard bow, and the ship wore
slowly round and moved away.

The whirlwind, having in its embrace the writh-
ing column of water, passed by our stern, then bent
around on a course parallel to ours, and moved past
us, for our breath of wind had died away.

There was a fascination in this scene which it is
impossible to describe. I think we must have felt
as those feel who are charmed by serpents. The
appalling danger— just as apparent as it could be —
was more than balanced by the awful charm of its
appearing.

These water-sprites did not disfigure the sea long.
Their proportions grew more and more shrunken,
and in less than half an hour from their birth, they
were drowned in a torrent of rain.

Once in the Bay of Bengal, we saw vessels fre-
quently. Now and then a Bengal junk went by,
exciting our mirth by her grotesque appearance.

Occasionally we had exhibitions of turtles. Two
monstrous fellows were discovered close alongside
one day. The appearance of the ship seemed to

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frighten them, and they set all their locomotive
powers in hurried motion. It was not strange that
Paddy, on seeing the head, legs, and other memhers
of a turtle struggling beneath the rim of his shell,
exclaimed, " Arrah, here's a box full of snakes 1 '*

Our monkeys were very mischievous. They car-
ried things hither and thither, and it was very diffi-
cult to find them when wanted.

When we drew near the head of the Bay, the
deep sea lead and line were brought up, to be pre-
pared for accurate sounding. In order to do this,
a space of a certain number of fathoms in extent
was measured off on one side of the main deck, the
extremities chalked of^ and the line stretched from
one to the other.

All these movements the monkeys watched with
breathless interest, from the main hatch. Suddenly
they all disappeared. Having occasion, a few min-
utes afterwards, to cross to the other side of the
deck, to my great amazement I found them imita-
ting our movements as nearly as they could — and
the imitation was very good, I assure you.

They had been around forward of the house and
stolen our chalk, and into the house and stolen a
ball of cotton twine. Their space on the deck —
about equal to ours — had already been measured and
chalked; and when I came upon them, one sat by
the after mark holdins: the end of the twine, while

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VOYAGE ABOUND THS WORLB. 273

•

another was going forward with the baU, unwinding
as he went. The others sat by the forward mark,
looking as grave and wise as owls.

I drew back and told what was going on, and
all crossed over to witness the performance. Bnt
it seemed that the monkeys could not abide spec-
tators. Finding themselves observed, they left their
job in a poor state of completion, and ran off

It is recorded thjfl; there have been people who
believed that monkeys could both speak and under-
stand human language, but would not exercise their
gifts for fear of being «et to work. If that is the '
case, they are not very observing, else they would
see that among men, those who talk most work
least. ^^ Great talkers^ little doers^'* you know.

October 20th we reached green water, and found
bottom with the lead. We had reached the Sand
Heads. After beating about for a day or two in
the vicinity of Point Palmiras and Balasora Roads,
we reached the Floating Light, and got a pilot

The land about the mouth of the Hoogly is very
low and even. When making it we saw first the
trees which grow along the shore — or, I should say,
. the branches of the trees, for the branches were
visible before the trunks, and had the appearance
of being suspended in the air. By-and-by the low
bank came to view, and finally the trunks of the
trees, linking the land and bnanches together.

Toy»ge Aroand the World. * "

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• I pass over the names of localities, some of which
were peculiar and profane, and over the stories of
the pilot about wrecks, quicksands, tigers and
alligators.

From the mouth of the river to the city the dis-
tance is about one hundred miles. When about half
way up, I climbed up on the main royal yard and
took a look about The low land lay as level as
the sea on a calm day. In some places there was
a thick undergrowth of shrubs, but not an elevation
of land anywhere in view that amounted to a knolL
The jackals howled hideously through the nights.
Often by day we could see them on the shore, con-
tending with the buzzards for some coveted bit of
carrion. They must have been very numerous on
the banks of the river, judging from the noise they
made in their nightly concerts.

As we drew near the city we met, frequently,
the great, awkward river boats descending. Finally
we arrived safely at our destination, and the ship
was moored off one of the ghauts or landing places
of the city. Many vessels lay in the stream, dis-
charging or receiving cargo.

We had not been long tnoored before a milkman
made his appearance, and offered to furnish us with
milk during our stay. He brought a sample of his
milk with him to be tested, which, on trial, was
found very good. Sc^ on his next visit he was en-

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ooaraged to make a business of coming. A Sabbath
cccurring soon, I purchased on my own account, a
quart of the lacteal fluid from him, that I might
enjoy to my heart's content — stomach's capacity —
a favorite dish, hard bread and milk. As soon as
the milk was poured out, I filled a bowl and broke
in the bread, and then left it to soak a little while.
When suflicient time had elapsed I returned to the
pantry, my mouth watering, and anticipating a feast.
There seemed to be a lack of milk in the bowl, the
bread having absorbed it, and I tojk up the pitcher
to supply the deficiency. But when I looked into
it I found it filled with whitish water. I tipped it,
itnd saw a chalky sediment at the bottonu I shook
it, and it assumed its old appearance of milk. And
this mixture was to pass muster for milk, generous,
rich, life-giving milk !

1 submitted the contents of the pitcher to the
inspection of the higher powei-s, and threw the mess
in the bowl overboard. When our smooth-faced,
white-robed milkman mounted the side the next
morning, he was immediately kicked out through
an open port into his dinghy, and there was an end
of that speculation.

Subsequently we engaged another man to supply
milk for our coffee, morning and noon-time. He
furnished a passable, if not a pure article. I h^d
my hard bread and milk several times, but I could
never make it come up to the home standard.

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A very few days at Calcutta convinced me that
it was not a place for me to thrive in. The atmos-
phere seemed to oppress me, and I was conscious
that I grew weaker daily.

A gang of Lascars, under the direction of a chief
or foreman (I have forgotten his local title), were
engagad to do duty on board. A number of these
foremen came on board to get employment for them-
selves and their gangs. They brought with them,
and exhibited with great confidence, recommenda-
tions from the various captains whom they had
served. They could not read English, and on that
account some of the documents which they presented
for recommendations did not contain much to their
credit.

The one whom my father engaged offered as a
recommendation a paper from an English captain,
which certified that the bearer was a *' great cheat,
rascal, liar, and knave generally."

What consideration led him to accept the ser-
vices of such a character, I cannot imagine, unless
it was this : He might be disappointed in any one
whom he engaged. In this one he could only be
agreeably disappointed.

We had some pigs on board, and they often had
the- privilege of walking the main deck. It was
amusing to us to see how fearful our Lascars were
of coming in contact with them. Your true Hindoo,

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VOYAGE AROUND THE WORU). UV7

even of the Soodra caste, abominates swine as mncli
as your Jew, or Mussulman.

Many a horrid look have I brought upon myself,
many a hearty Hindoo curse, and many a threat of
blood-letting by the handy sheath-knife, upon which
the hand was laid, and all because I drove the pigs
among them. I had no idea then that I was mn-
Xiing any risk, but now I really believe that had I
driven a grunter agaiust one of those bigoted, su-
perstitious, idolatrous, heathen wretches, he would
have run his sheath-knife into me with a superla-
tively pious fury.

These people did not possess much physical
strength. And for that matter, how could they ?
Their whole subsistence was rice and curry, and they
did not eat as much of that in one day as I should
require (barring the curry, of which more hereafter,)
for a luncheon.

While they were employed on board the casks
of nails and spikes, to which I have before referred,
were discharged to make room for the ccmiing cargo.
They performed a part of the labor, and it was
while they were about it that I noticed how weak
they were. It was only by the greatest exertion
that one of them could tip a cask of nails from its
bilge upon its head. My brother, who was carry-
ing on the work, would get out of all patience with
them, and, as an example for them to emulate, would

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oatoh up a cask, and xossiog it as high as his h^ad,
catch it agaia as it fell. They took it , all as a
matter of course, however, and seemed to be well
aware of the superior strength of Europeans and
Americans. Yes, and of Kanakas too ; for Big Man
would now and then show them something worth
regarding.

When they hoisted in concert they had their
accompaniment of song. As many of them as could
get about a fall or rope, would seize hold of it,
and when the signal was given to hoist, one would
lead off something after this sort :
^Jcnny Skinner*'*^

This brief stanza of one line was, after a proper
interval, followed by a chorus as brief, all ejacula*
ting in concert —

and settling away upon the fall

Leader— "Cbp^W PUchelV

All— "JSaytyaA.*' (Pull.)

Leader — " Qrando Pegrutyi^'^

^^—''Hayiyah.:' (Pull.) Etc.

But what shall I say of the appearance of the
city, and what of the appearance of the sacred river,
the principal outlet of the mpst sacred Ganges ?
Some, who have been disgusted by my prolixity in
former chapters, will anticipate something very long
drawn here. They will find me brief, however. I

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VOTAOK ABOUND THB WOBLD. 2?9

learned but little, comparatively, of the city and
river, and I shall not exceed what I beheld and
knew. This is a veritable narrative, whatever its
merits may be in other respects.

Come with me and behold the river Hoogly.
Let ns take a position here at the' break of the
poop, and observe it attentively. Look np towards
its source.

Does it come from far?

It is formed by a j auction of the Cossimbazar
and Jellinghy rivers, the western branches of the
Ganges, and the distance from here to that junction
is fifty-five miles. You can see that it is a respecta-
ble river for width. From " Old Fort Ghaut," here
on our right, across to Howra, is a mile, almost.
Its waters are decently deep, also, though you don't
see that, for it is rather thick and muddy. There
are more rapid rivers, but you may know from the
strain on the cables of the shipping that the waters
of the Hoogly do not stand still.

What is that object up the river yonder, floating
down with the cmTcnt?

Let us wait until the current brings it nearer to us.

Why, it looks like a drowned man !

It is the body of a human being — dead, though
not drowned ; a naked, swollen, putrid human body.
And see that crow light on it, and peck at the pro-
trading, staring eyeballs. Horrid ! horrid I

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280 BEMINI6CSNC£S OF ▲

But we cannot rid ourselves of the disagreeable
impression by turning away our eyes. Similar ob-
jects are seen in all directions. There, towards the
western shore, swimming deep, and preyed upon by
three crows, is another bloated body. Here are two
more in the direction of the landing, and more are
coming in sight far up. High feasts these afford
for the jackals and buzzards !

Plentiful as these bodies appear to be, they are
few when the present is compared with earlier times.
The English, since they acquired power in the land,
have labored, and with some success, to abolish the
barbarous custom of the natives, which consigns bo
many bodies to the waters of the river.

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CHAPTER XXV.

AT CALCUTTA.— CURRT. — ^BXEUNT THE KANAKAS.—
EXPERIRNCB AND OBSERVATION.

pALCUTTA is called the "City of Palaces."
It is also, more inelegantly, termed the " City
of Mud Huts." Looking at it irom the river, one
saw the justice of both names. From Fort William
and the esplanade, far up, stretched a long line of
most palatial buildings, right lordly dwellings. But
as the eye surveyed them, it fell also on numerous
miserable mud huts. In the same degree that the
former were lofly and dignified piles, the latter were
low and mean habitations.

On the occasion of my first visit to the shore,
my father took me along with him. We went first
to the places of business of several merchants, and
then to the office of the Ameiican consul.

At this place I saw a very ingenious device for
** raising the wind." The partition wall at one end
of the room constituted a gigantic fan. It moved
on hinges at the top, and when swung vigorously, .
as was the case then, got up a fine circulation ia
the apartment.

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We dined with the Consul. There were other
guests, one English, and several American captains.
The dinner was East Indian — chickens, rice, etc.,
and the everlasting curry.

My curse upon curry! I had never tasted it
before. I saw the others convey it to their mouths
in considerable quantities, and swallow it with ap-
parent relish. I supposed that tcould, and should, do
the same. So, with all the rashness with which a
boy attacks a new and apparently dainty article of
diet, I put a quantity in my mouth, overlookiDg for
the moment, that it was a condiment, and not to,
be taken by the mouthful. Fire is not hotter than
was that mouthful of curry« In that company I could
not indulge myself in spitting it out, and howling
in my anguish, as I was almost irresistibly impelled
to do. Therefore I swallowed it as rapidly as I
could, and sent with it and poured after it, a large
goblet of ice water. I curled my toes in my agony.
I opened my mouth and inhaled the outer air.
Better the fox of the Spartan youth, gnawing at
the vitals, than the fire of that accursed compound,
searing throat and chest The tears started from
my eyes and coursed down my cheeks. And all
the time I covered my distress by an appearance
of interest in what was transpiring before me.

Curry is a conglomeration, consisting of tumeric,
onions, coriander, mustard, black pepper, melted

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butter, fenugreek, cocoa nnt milk, ginger, cummin
seed, mushroom powder, ground rice, cayenne pep-
per, cardamons, etc. There's a list for you!

The elders — i, 6., all but myself— at this repast,
talked politics, or boasted of their individual deeds.
I could not but notice that John Bull eclipsed aU
others in the latter thing. Drinking and smoking suc-
ceeded eating. The talking, as a matter of course,
increased. There M'as now, however, one silent in-
dividual besides myself. One American captain, a
young man, said nothing, but occupied the time in
vainly trying to stand two cigars upon their ends
and lay a third one across on top. He could set
two upon their ends, but when the third one was
laid upon them they all fell down. From the Con-
sul's we returned directly to the ship.

The California passengers had left a great many
empty bottles on board. Some may be curious to
know what they contained when full, for no one can
suppose they brought them on board empty. It was
neither water nor milk — so in guessing (for I shall
not tell what was in them), do not guess either of
Aose things. These bottles I had collected together,
and now I bartered them for oranges. They pro-
cured me quite a supply.

I have already said that the air of Calcutta did
not agree with me. At the time when I possessed
myself of the oranges I was much debilitated. I

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8a£fered no pain of any consequence, but grew
weaker every day. In order to favor my illnesB,,
and at the same time to make me useful, I was directr
ed to middle-stitoh the topgallant sails. When sails
are made, the breadths of canvass are lapped when
they are sewed together. To middle-stitch a sail
is to run a thread through the middle of the parta
that lap over. The effect is to strengthen the seam.

The topgallant sails were lying with the other
sails on the deck in the forward cabin. This was
in the shade, of course, and by opening all the
doors and windows I secured a cooling current of
air. Here I would sit, with some of my oranges
about me, and sew. When tired I would lie back
upon the sails and rest, or sit up and indulge in an
orange or two. After a while Joe Bacon, haimig be-
come partially disabled, was joined with me in the
duty of middle-stitching.

We really enjoyed ourselves, talking, eating
oranges, and working 'omy cautiously. One day
our t^te-^t^te was interrupted by an angry alterca-
tion not far off. Two individuals no less renowned
than Doctor Henry Brown, and his wortiiy coad«
jutor, John Gilpin, were at loggerheads. It was
plain enough that the Doctor had been imbibing
some of his favorite gin, and something had also
strangely loosened the tongue of John.

^* Jes' tell me," roared the Doctor, in a tone diat

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at once arrested our attention, " how you 'spect to
get 'long board de ship. De capcn say you be a
fool — nebber make a sailor, an' tell you to help de
cook. Help de cook! Why, you bodder my soul
out."

To these pointed remarks John Gilpin returned
a volley of Kanaka gibberish.

" You 'tend to staii; ? I don't cal'late to tolerate
dis much more. I show you a new ting. . 60 light
de fire — ^go light do fire."

Another volley of Kanaka from John, but no
movement.

" I tell you jes' dis once — go Dght de fire I "

Volley, as before.

The disputants stood about three paces apart.
The Doctor did not wait for John to finish his reply,
but at once laid violent hands on him. It was
David assailing Goliath. After some skirmishing,
Afiica was victorious, and Oceanica was laid upon
his back in the passage-way leading out of the cabin.
The Doctor who had fallen upon his antagonist,
endeavored to rise, but was foiled in this. John
now began to make some points, and was like to
turn the Doctor under. Joe and I thought it time
to go to the rescue. We did not rush, for we were
very weak, but we reached the scene of action after
a while. Joe grappled into John's hair and held
his head down, while I held one of his arms. This

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must have seemed a good deal like unfair play to
John, for he began to shont oat a single Kanaka
word most lustily. Suspecting that he was calling
on the Kanakas in the hold for help, I laid mf
hand across his mouth to silence him. But he gave
my hand a sarage bite, and went on with his yell-
ing. It was an amusing struggle. We seemed
Lilliputians contending with Gulliver. Having a
hand to spare now, the Doctor, who was astride
of his foe, picked up a long strip of hoard that the
carpenter had left there a little while before, and struck
at John's head again and again. His aim was not
good, for he did not hit John at all, but he kept Joe and
I dodging pretty sharply. Meantime my father and
the custom-house officer, who were walking the deck
above, heard the noise, and came down to seek the
cause. They came into the cabin just when the
Doctor was trying to belabor John's head. As my
father came near, the Doctor, who was not aware
of his presence, swung back his board for a mighty
blow, and gave the captain a smart back-stroke on
the side of his head. He seized the stick, and the
Doctor, looking around, was greeted with a severe
interrogation :

"What's all this?"

The Doctor was noways disconcerted.

" Bery sorry I hit yer, Capen— didn't 'tend for to do

didn't know yer was about I axes yer pardon.**

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*^WeU, well — bat what are you fighting about ?"

"Axes yer pardon agin, Capen, but dis ain't
fightin'. Dis feller here, John, gib me sass. I show
him a new ting. 'Spect he's drunk — mebbe crazy."

Just then up through the hatchway poured all
the Kanakas, and at their heels came the mate.

John became silent. His countrymen were also
fiilent. They stood grouped about the hatchway,
evidently undecided what to do.

The Doctor got up from sitting astride of John.
Joe and I moved to one side. This lefb John un-
restrained, but he did not move. He lay still on
his back, glaring at us with eyes as red as fire coals.
The captain ordered irons to be put upon his wrists.
He submitted to the operation quietly. Then the
Kanakas were ordered below again to their work.
They went obediently. When the last one had dis-
appeared in the hold the mate turned to the pros-
trate John, and having kicked him two or three
times violently, himself descended into the hold.
My &ther and the ofiicer were already gone. The
Doctor was "lightin' de fire" himself. Joe and I,,
only, witnessed the brutality of the mate.

From our cushion of sails we continued to ob-
serve John, All alone, he lay there upon his back,
his burning eyes fixed upon the deck above, his
wrists bound by the ignominious bracelets. What
were his thoughts, poor fellow ? Did he regret that

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he had left his far off lovely Woahoo? Did he ac-
cuse his shipmates of cowardice, and the white men
of cruelty? Did he still feel the dastardly kieks of
the mate? Did he meditate revenge, or was he,
after all, in a state of stupefaction?

Before night a policeman came off from the i^ore
and, taking off John's iron handcuffs, replaced them
by a brass pair that he took from his pocket. Then
he beckoned to the unhappy Kanaka, and they pro-
ceeded to the boat, and the boat proceeded to the
shore. Never again did I behold John Gilpin.

Miserable Kanaka, it was a hard, and an inex-
orable fate that dragged thee from the sweet isle
of thy nativity, from the sight of its dark mountain
peaks, and the shade of its tall cocoa nut trees!
Never more shalt thou wet thy tawny skin in the
shining surges of the coral reefs, or paddle the ont-
riggered canoe. For thy relishing palate never more
shall pig be roasted, or yam, or sweet potatoe, and
poi — ah, poll Thou wilt regret that greatest and
most appreciated luxury, even shouldst thou sup on
ambrosia with thy long-worshipped heathen gods I
John died of fever in the city of Calcutta.

My father and the mate had disagreed on the
voyage, and they continued to disagree in port. The
result was the discharge of the mate. He gathered
together his goods, caught his monkey and paro-
quette, and left us. Shortly after, all the Kani^as,

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YOTAOB AB0T7KD THB WORLD. 1289

except one, ran off. They received some money
and liberty to go on shore, and only one, young
John Steward, returned. This defection did not
grieye us much.

A new mate waft soon shipped, an Englishman
named Porter. He had been long in the East
Indies, and understood and 'spoke the language of
the people. Also he was an excellent man, and a
prime sailor, but bbing only a man, he could not
be faultless — ^he drank hard.

The second time I went on shore I went early
in the morning with this man, Mr. Porter, who, on
account of his knowledge of the language and cus-
toms, did the marketing. He had, the day before,
pitched a waterman out of the ship into his dinghy
for some insolence, and the fellow vowed to have
revenge. So he took me with him on this particu-
lar morning in the capacity of a body guard, as he
apprehended the waterman would be on the look-
out for him, with some friends to back him up. I
was quite weak then, but my large frame made a
very good show. It was quite early in the morn-
ing, as I have said, and all classes were not astir.
As usual, a large number of dinghy-men were col-
lected at the Ghaut, and others were stining all
along from thence to the market place. When we
were about half way there, Mr. Porter espied his
enemy, and pointed him out to me. If angry fea^

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tores and furious glances could kill, we should both
have fallen down dead. But they do not, aod we
came off safely, for he used nothing else against us.

Many people were wending their way to market
Here and there a jackal sneaked away to less fre-
quented streets. Solitary adjutant birds stalked sol-
emnly about. Now and then an officer cantered
his horse across the esplanade in the direction of
the fort. As soon as our purchases were made, we
returned directly to the ship.

The next day the carpenter invited my brother
and myself to take a day's cruise on shore with
him. He had been making some writing desks of
teak, and intended on this occasion to go to the
Bazaar to buy brass trimmings for them.

Afker landing we trudged along the hot, dusty
streets, and found but little to interest us until we
reached the neighborhood of the Bazaar. Here the
scene grew a little more agreeable, and I went for-
ward with a stouter heart. I was reallj too weak
and too much unstrung for all this travel in the hot
sun, but I had not taken any extensive walk about
the city, and I could not resist the temptation of a
stroll with my brother and our great favorite, the
carpenter.

We had not been long in the Bazaar before a
sharper of a Hindoo, attracted, doubtless, hy my

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verdant appearance, came np to me, and, with a
prolband salaam, offered to sell me a piece of silk
which he said contained eight pocket handkerchief
patterns. I asked the price.

"Sixteen rupees — a notable bargain."

He told the trath, and so do all kindried spirits
when making similar declarations — notable bargains
for them,

I assured the man that the article was beyond
my means entirely, and walked away. But the silk
merchant would not be put off thus. He overtook
me, and urged the matter upon me.

"Sahib will do well to examine the texture of
the silk. It is of unusual fineness. Such is not
often offered to a customer in this city.''

I could not do otherwise, I thought, than look
at it My brother and the carpenter joined me. A
glance showed this extraordinary piece of goods to
be a sham. We told the owner so, and turned our
backs upon him. With a pertinacity that would
have ranked him high among peddlers in this
country, he pursued, and persecuted me for an offer.

" I cannot leave Sahib," he said, " until he has
made me an offer."

"Make him a small offer," said the carpenter,
"less than he can take; and then, if he don't clear
out, kick him."

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So I 8aid three rupees.

To my infinite surprise the silk was extended to
me with a low obeisance, and these words :

"Sahib is a sharp customer. He over-reaches
the poor Hindoo."

Didn't he deserve my hat?

Rid of that pest, we went on. While the car-
penter was selecting his trimmings, I leaned against
a post and scanned the passers by.

Soon a European lady came tripping along —
tripping so daintily that, just abreast of me, she
tripped in good earnest, and fell over. Before it
was evident to my dull perceptions that I ought to
step forward and aid he in rising, a smiling, sleek
Hindoo, the proprietor of a stall opposite, rushed
out, and with most delicate and graceful politeness,
assisted the lady up. There was grace and ease in
all his motions. He smiled and bowed with^ such
accomplished gallantry to the fair one's repeated
, acknowledgements, that I beheld him with wonder
and admiration.

He stood a moment in the pathway watching
the retiring form of the lady, then, turning, cast a
glance in the opposite direction. Instantly I saw
no common satisfaction leap into his features. He
sprang forward again with the same graceftil activity
•^hich he had displayed while assisting the lady, and

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TOYAGS ABOUND THB WORLD. 298

which had excited my admiration — to do what ? To
raise the fresh manare of a cow, and dash it against
a wall, to dry for fuel. Bah ! Both actions, raising
the lady, and the other^ were exquicitely performed.
Which gave him the liveliest satisfaction, I
wonder?

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CHAPTER XXVL

▲ CHANGS OF HATES AGAIN. — SNAKE CHAEMEB8 AND
JUGGLERS. — DKPABTUBB FROM CALCUTTA.

HAVE said that Mr. Porter drank hard. He
was often "half seas over.*' At length my
father said to him: "Mr. Porter, yon mnst either
qnit drink, or leave the ship. I like yon, bnt can-
not endure your habit of drinking."

"Well," Mr. Porter answered, "we will part
friends. I like my berth, but I am not willing to
give up liquor."

So Mr. Porter went on shore, regretted by all,
for he was a pleasant and cheerful man. And there
was a vacancy.

WANTED — A MATE.

A few days afterwards, I was sitting under the
awning on the poop deck. * A shore boat came
alongside, with a white man in the stern. I made
a careful survey of him, and internally pronounced
him a clergyman, but an unamiable and bigoted
one. He came on board, and wished to see the
captain. I showed him into the cabin, and then,
walking to the stem, lay down npon the transom.

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VOYAOS ASOjnXD THB WOBLD. iM

^ Yon want a mate, captain V^ said tbe stranger.

"Yes, sir."

'^ I would like the situation. I think I can g^ve
you satisfaction."

I fairly started. That man a seaman!

*^I discharged my last mate," said my father,
^ because he drank. I want a steady man. There-
fore you will excuse me if I ask whether you drink
or not."

^^I do not, sir. I am strictly temperate."

After a littie more conversation, Mr. Jackson^^
for that was the man's name — was engaged.

About the time that Mr. Jackson joined us, I
ceased to do any kind of work. I was very weak ;
and to walk twice the length of the ship was al-
most too much exertion for me. I sat most of the
time during the day on tbe poop deck under tiie
anniing, and watched, in a listless, uninterested, way,
the course of events.

The cargo which was brought to the ship pre-
sented quite a variety, and was well described as
an aeaorted cargo. It consisted of deer's horns, ar-
rack, hides, castor oil, tallow, lac, seeds, etc^

The deck was almost constantly thronged with
native laborers. Their almost naked bodies mingled
and moved before my eyes, and their din rang in
my ears. They were not always nude. Once in a
while one would appear in a very original (to me)

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eostame — ^nothing less tiian a complete coat of the
mud of the Hoogly. It was a source of wonder to
me how they contrived to make it adhere so firmly.
It did cot seem to interfere with the free use of
their limbs. One felt in an instant that these were
indeed " of the earth earthy."

"Halloo!"

This prolonged hail would come over the water,
followed by the thumping of tom-toms, and the da^
of cymbals. Turning my head to seek the cause of
all this noise, I would see a large boat drifting
down to us with the current Its occupants, jug-
glers and snake charmers, would shout —

"Halloo, Sahib, see snakee dance! Very fine
snakee."

They would shout the praises of their snakes
loudly, as they drifted by.

"We will come on board very quickly," they
would add. "We will ask but little money. We
will cause to dance very much four very beautiful
snakes, and we will show some very fine tricks."

All in vain. No one would have leisure to see
the " snakee dance " but myself, and however much
I might wish it, I knew they would not be allowed
to come on board and disturb the laborers. I would
watch the boat as the tide carried it by. When
t^ performers realised that no invitation would be
extended to them to come on board, they woidd

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TOYAQB ASOUMB THE WOBIJ). 29T

gradviallsr cease their vociferalions, and finally hnsh
their voices and instruments altogether, and gaze
reproachfully at the ship. This silence would denote
the death of hope as far as we were concerned.

I would still watch them, as they were borne
on by the current Soon they would turn their eyes
from us down stream. Another ship would lie be-
fore them. Again I would hear a faint ^' Halloo,"
and the distant rub-a-dub of the tom-toms would fall
upon my ears. This new burst would denote the
reviyal of hope, and the praises of the snakes would
be repeated to otiier ears. Daily these boats were
passing the ship and soliciting patronage.

One Sunday, not long after our lurival, I was,
at one hour, the scde occupant of the deck. One
of these boats came alongside, and I invited the
performers to come on board. In an instant
they were upon deck, with their baskets or snakes
and bags of utensils. The show began at once. One
old fellow opened his bag, and took out what seemed
to me to be a common cricket, or footstool, cov-
ered with fur, and having a head on one end. This
be set on one side, and treated as if it were the
genius of jugglery. His first trick I did not com-
prehend, because of the rapidity with which he per-
formed it. The second was to produce eggs from
a bag which he had wrung like a dish-cloth, and
beaten upon the deck. All the time he gesticulated

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29S axmNiscBKOxs osf a

to, he supplicated, he apostrophized hiis fnivclad idoL
After this trick the mnsic struck up, the snakes were
let out, and the dance began. The reptiles rose
upon their tails and writhed solemnly about.

At this juncture the performance was interrupted.
The music had attracted all hands to the deck. My
father no sooner saw what was going on than he
ordered the performers into their boat immediately.
I tjirew them what copper coin I had. The snakes
were hurried into their baskets, the mi^c god was
bagiged again, and the deck was clear in a minute.
Before retiring to his cabin the captain positiyely
forbid the introduction of any more snake-dancers
or jugglers into t&e ship on Sunday.

During the tame we lay here, several religious
holidays occurred. The festivities and ceremonies
consequent upon them enlivened many of my lonely
hours spent under the awning on the poop. The
sounds of the musical instruments filled my ears,
and the flash of tinsel, the waving of banners, and
the swaying of the multitudes, filled my eyes.

It was at the close of these holidays, I believe,
that they cast the gods of the occasion into the
riVer. All the river above us was filled with boats,
loaded with gaudily dressed people. The sh<»e8
were thronged. Gay trappings flaunted in the sun.
The great hosts emitted a hoarse roar, continuous
as the hum from a hive of bees. Above this, at

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YOYAGB ABOUin> THS WOKLD. 299

^ intervals, rang the musical inHtrnments. Throngh
the day I watched, with wonder and amazementi
this scene of oriental magnificence and folly.

My last visit to the shore was made three or
four days before our departure. In charge of Mr.
Jackson, I went to the Hospital for medical ad-
vice. I was able to walk only a few steps. At
the landing I got into a palanquin, and was con-
veyed to my place of destination. There they
showed me into a room on the ground fioori and
told me to sit down on a long wooden bench. Mr.
Jackson then went in pursuit of the doctor. I
stretched myself at full length upon the bench, for
the jolting of the palanquin had quite exhausted
me. As I lay I looked through an open door into
a large garden. Some people belonging to the hos-
pital were there, pitching quoits. They were much
interested, and had many doubtful points to discuss.
Soon the doctor came and prescribed for me, and
I was then jolted back to the landing. I cannot
say much in praise of the palanquin as a mode of
conveyance.

When we reached the ship again there was a
stranger in the cabin. I soon learned that he was
a Mr. George Christie, a Scotsman, and that he
would take passage with us to London. He had
been twelve years in the British East Indian army.
He and the custom-house officer manifested much

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300 BEMUnSCEKCES OP A

sympathy for me. Indeed, the officer had att ^ong
been very kind. When I would bo particularly low
he would say:

" I see, my boy, that you require a little stim-
ulant."

Then he would send on shore for a bottle of
port wine. lie prided himself on knowing how to
give the finest tone to port He prepared it with
spices, and it was really delicious. We shared quite
a number of bottles, and I found that it did brace
me up, and afford me a temporary vigor. In the
end, however, I should pi*obably have been better
off without it.

After Mr. Christie came on board the bottles
were Fent for more frequently. He loved a social
glass most dearly — too dearly, we learned afterwards,
for his own good. He was a very meritorious soldier,
but his unhappy passion for strong drink had been
fatal to his promotion, and he left off as he began,
a private in Her Majesty's Lances. Under the in-
fluence of the genial port his heart opened wide,
and he told many fascinating stories of battle, and
adventure, in that rich and populous land.

At length the end came. The cargo was all on
board, the hatches secured, and a crew shipped.
The anchors were hove up out of the mud of the
Hoogly, and we began our descent.

My father remained in the city to conclude bis

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WOBLD. 801

business, as it wonld be easy to overtake the ship
ill a river craft.

All was confusion on board. Mr. Jackson, our
" strictly temperate " mate, began to give his solemn
declaration the lie. He was soon so drunk as to be
Bnable to attend to his duties. My brother, the
second mate, with a portion of the crew, were en-
gaged on the rigging. Once in a while Mr. Jack-
son would rush out from his state-room, and assume
the direction of afiairs. On one of these occasions
he found the men setting up the fore topgallant
backstays.

"That will do," said my brother. "Clap on a
seizing, and shift the tackle.'^

"Hold on, hold onl" said Mr. Jackson. "Yoa

bavn't enough on it by a foot, Mr. D . Settle

away on it, lads, settle away."

The lads did settle away, but the obstinate piece
of rigging would not budge another inch. Mr. Jack-
son called them a set of slimsy swabs, and ordered
them to get a snatch-block, and lead the fall to the
capstan.

While they were doing this he sought a proper
place to note the effect. Finding no place on deck
to suit him, he got upon the house and stood upon
some wood that lay between the boats. As he
threw back his head to look upwards at the top-
gallant mast, ho fell over backwards on the wood,

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and a splinter, which chanced to be pointing up-
wards, stuck deeply into his flesh. He wriggled
himself up, and, swearing horribly, retired to his
stateroom. When he was out of sight, my brother
duected the men, as before, to clap a seizing on
the lanyard, and shift the tackle.

No more was seen of the mate for some time.
He appeared again, however, and this time the fore
royal stay was on the docket. The men were haul-
ing it taut by hand, for it was not a rope of any
great consequence.

''That is no way to set up rigging,'* said Mr,
Jackson. "Put on a watch tackle."

A watch tackle was put on.

"Now, men, away with itl Pull, men, pull!'*

The spar bent forward. The topgallant stay
grew slack.

" Will not that do, sir ?" asked my brother.

" No, no I " replied the mate. I dislike this do-
ing things by halves. Away with it, men — away
with it. Have you no strength?"

The men only pretended to pulL

"Jump out there, one of you, with a slosh
bucket, and give it a greasing."

"That has been done already, su*," s^d mjf
brother.

" Then go out, one of you, and shake it It will
render better. The rest of you take the fall to the.

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VOYAGE ABOimD THE WORLD. 803

capstan. It^s strange that all of you canH set up
that stay."

"It win part," said my brother.

"Let it part then. Heave away, men. Walk
around with the bars. Shake it up there — shake it
np. There, now it comes home beautifully. Al-
ways do — "

Snap! went the slender stay just above the
boom, nearly throwing the man there off into the
water. One end fell with a splash into the river,
and the other swung inboard, while the spar jumped
back, straightening the topgallant stay out again,
and making it quiver like a taut bowstring.

Mr. Jackson, without another word, turned short
on his heel and went aft, followed by the jeers of
the men. In the evening he became delirious, and
talked of jumping overboard. Two or three times
he threw his leg over the rail with that intention
(he said), but was seized and drawn back again by
my brother and the pilot. My father reached the
ship during the night What passed between him
and Mr. Jackson I do not know. It was too late
then to make another change.

The next day the confusion that had previously
reigned, subsided, and the system and regularity
that characterize proceedings on ship board began
to appear.

The ship proved to be very crank. When an

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anchor was let go from one bow, she would roll
down two or three streaks the opposite way. The
pilot at first declared he should protest against her
going to sea in that condition. He gave up the
idea, however.

I suspect that the Hoogly is ascended and de-
scended with gi'eater rapidity and ease now, than
then. Occasionally we saw a ship towed rp or
down by steam, but nearly all won their way by
wind and current. It was very laborious. There
was but little rest from making and taking in sail ;
from heaving up anchors, and bracing yards about
One by one the remembered objects upon the river
were passed, and by-and-by the open sea lay before
us. We lay at anchor o£F Sanger Island, New
Tear's Day, 1851. It was a calm and beautiful
day. The crew were provided with means to " splice
the main brace " — a thing that they did heartily —
and in the cabin the bottle went round, inspiring a
great deal of good fellowship. Our total abstinence
mate took his glass.

Did he or the captain remember a conversation
held in that same cabin a few weeks before, on the
subject of temperate mates ? I did.

The next day the pilot was discharged, and we
went to sea.

I began to recruit immediately. When ten days
out I was able to do light work. I have wondered

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TOYAGK ABOLKD THS WOBLD. 30&

what thoB lifted me from helplessness, and the point
q£ death almost, in so short a time, to comparative
health. Was it the doctor's pills, or the port wine,
or the change from the air of Calcntta to that of
the wide ocean?

One Kanaka, young John Steward, remained on
board. Onr new men were British subjects, mostly
Scotch, and were all active, able seamen.

We had very good weather through the months
of January and February. The crankness of the
ahip interfered very much with her progress. She
behaved better at sea, however, than in the river.
This was owing to the greater buoyancy possessed
by salt water. But in sale water, or in fresh, she
would be down on her broadside when the wind
was any other way than aft. When other vessels
would be carrying topgallant sails on the wind, we
would be crawling along under double reefed top-
sails, almost on our beam ends, and sliding to lee-
ward about as fast as we moved ahead. This crank-
ness was, in great measure, owing to the manner in
which the cargo was stowed. The lighter kinds
were in the bottom of the hold. The result of this
stowage was foreseen, but it could not be helped.
It was necessary to stow the cargo as it was de-
livered, and, unfortunately, the lighter kinds were
delivered first

February 17th the southern end of Madagascar

Toja<« Arooad tha World. "^

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806 BSWINISCBNCSS OF A

bore north, distant 175 miles. March 3d we en-
eouDtered a violent gale. We were then on the
bank of Lagnllas, which, six or seven hundred feet
tinder the sea, is the first step of a gigantic series,
reaching from the bottom of the Southern Ocean
to the high table lands of Africa. Cape Lagnllas,
the most southerly point of Africa, bore N. N. W.,
distant 120 miles. Generally we call passing to the
southward of the Afiican peninsula, rounding the
Cape of Good Hope. And in the minds of most
people, the Cape of Good Hope is the most soath-
erly point of Afiica.

How much this is an error may be seen from
the following statement of latitudes. Cape of Good
Hope, south latitude 34^ 22' — Cape LaguUas, south
latitude 34° 51'. Cape Lagullas is therefore twenty-
nine miles farther to the south than the Cape of
Good Hope.

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CHAPTER XXVIL

WE PASS THE CAPE OP GOOD HOPE. — ST. HELENA. —
A SQUALL. MAKE THE EDDYSTONE LIGHT.

)IIE gale of the third of March was purely
a tempest of wind. The sky was cloudless,
and the sun bright. The ship was hore to with
her head to the westward. There was a fearful sea
— ^the worst we encountered during the whole voyage.

I was accustomed "to take meridian observations
of the sun with an old quadrant that I had, and
afterwards work out the latitude. When we brought
up our instruments that day to take meridian ob-
servations, it was amusing to see what positions the
observers took in order to stand still. I got astride
of the spanker boom, and with one foot on the top
of a skylight and the other hugged to the spar,
watched the great orb across the meridian.

Three or four ships, also lying to, were in sight
to windward of us.

The next day the gale abated. Meantime we
had surged in considerably towards the land. We
even fancied we saw the loom of the mountains. I

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assert that our fancies were not deceitful, for, if that
>va8 not Africa, I never saw it, and that I do not
wish to confess.

Cape Horn lies in south latitude 55° 59'. The
Cape of Good Hope, as I stated in the last chap-
ter, lies far up on a comparatively summer region.
Both names were once names of terror to the mar-
iner. The Caho Tormentoso (Cape of Storms), of
Bartholemew Diaz, was not immediately forgotten
under the more inspiring name of Cape of Good
Hope, though until the new era in nayigation, it
seems to have been regarded as le^s formidable than
Cape Horn. Twenty years ago the latter name was
suggestive of nothing but frowning skies, and fierce
wrestling with the Storm King. At present, while
either is held lo be preferable to Cape Cod, in win-
ter, the Cape of Good Hope is < bnsidered the worse
of the two. The sea is he^^vier. Not a few ships
have gone down to bilge on the bank of Lagnllas.

There is an essential difference between lying to
in a gale oft* the Cape of Good Hope, and what
immediately succeeds to it in a ship bound to the
westward, viz., " rolling down to St. Helena.''

After reaching the Atlantic, we struck the S. E.
trade winds, and laid our course for the Rocky Isle.
The sea was regular and gentle, the wind steady,
and the air exhilarating. The yards were laid square.
Studding sails were set alow and aloft, on both

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sides. The sea and the sky were of the same
glorioQS blue.

What nights for " yaruing and calking." What
days for cleaning ship!

The running rigging was cast off from the pins
and stoppered. Bulwarks were scrubbed and paint-
ed. Astern lines were trailing for dolphins (Cory-
phene). The " watch below " haunted the martin-
gale with the harpoon and grains.

Ah I there was poetry and pleasure, and a de-
licious dreaminess in those days! No path in life
is utterly laborious and cheerless. Mariners, you
see, are not always tempest-tossed. They have their
halcyon days.

Mr. Christie, after so long a time spent amid
turbulent and exciting scenes, enjoyed exceedingly
the incomparable days and lovely nights, that came
and went like pleasant dreams. Mr. Jackson, even,
grew grimly genial, and related, as positive facts,
scores of impossible and outrageous lies.

March 18th we beheld, far ahead, St. Helena
projecting out of the water like a dark cloud. Ap-
proaching nearer, we saw, along the water line, the
waves driven against the precipitous shore, and
above, high, irregular hills, ravines, and elevated
plateaus ; and we confessed that St Helena was not

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indebted to association alone, for power to interest
and impress a beholder. I did not think then, that
this had been the prison of Napoleon, but the spec-
tacle — the sublime spectacle — of that narrow, but
lofty isle, rearing itself out of the blue, fathomless
sea, so firm, so unshaken, putting aside the mightiest
and angriest billows, moved me, young and untaught
as I was. All feel this subduing power. The trav-
eller bares his head in the presence of Niagara —
phrases of admiration are not spoken at the feet of
the Alps.

Before sunset we had rounded the northern end
of the island, and anchored off Jamestown, on the
north-west, or leeward side. Many vessels were
lying at anchor. We came to, near an American
whale ship, the Corinthian.

A black clipper brig, with only the bare lower
masts standing, and so light as to preclude the idea
of ballast, lay close in to the shore, just to the right
band of the shipping. On the shore near her were
two hulks, one of which was partly cut to pieces.
These three had been slavers. They had been cap-
tured on the African coast, and taken to St. Helena,
and condemned. They were now meeting an unus-
ual fate. Most ships, at their final dissolution, are
submerged in the sea. These, on the contrary, were
broken up and used for fuel.

Jamestown is situated in a ravine. Ladder H ill

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VOYAGE ABOUND THE WOBLD. 311

and High Knoll lie on the right, and form a two
story mountain. Ladder Hill is the first story —
High Knoll the second. To the top of High Knoll
the distance is ahout 2,000 feet.

Jamestown consists of one principal street, about
a mile in length. A mountain stream Hows through
the place, supplying the inhabitants and shipping
with pure and excellent water.

Fortifications abounded. They were the first
works of art that met my eyes in approaching the
place — upon them my glances rested oftenest while
there, and they were the last to grow indistinct in
the gloom when we sailed away.

To the left of the town, looking from the ship-
ping, the military men had effected lodgements mid-
way in the high cliffj?, and established batteries
there. Ladder Hill, up which there is a ladder^
composed of 675 steps, is crowned by a fortress ;
and High Knoll, the second story, bears aloft still
another.

A kind of small mackerel were very plentiful
here. Canoes were all about among the shipping,
whose owners caught and sold these fish. Their
manner of taking them was new to us. They used,
instead of one hook, a bundle. They were tied firm-
ly together, with the points all outward. Just above
the shanks of the hook was attached a showy bait to
attract the mackerel. When this aggregate hook

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was lowered into the water, the fish would gather
thtckly about the bait, 'ihen the fisherman would
suddenly jerk up on his line, and impale a number
upon the projecting points.

A man came alongside our ship in his canoe, and
wished to sell some fish. Witli his permission, I
fished a little with his manifold jig. I had qnite
good success, for great skill was not required to
handle it properly. These mackerel, when cooked,
seemed delicious to our salt beef tempei-ed palates.

Our water was filled from a water boat. It was
of an excellent quality. Wood is a very scarce
article at St. Helena. All we could purchase for
fnel had once sailed the sea as plank and tim-
ber of a slaver. It was easy, however, to pro-
cure supplies of fresh meat and vegetables.

On board of our neighbor, the Corinthian, were
two ladies — one' the captain's wile. Their hats and
shawls were observed by me with great delight,
when they appeared upon the quarter deck of -the
whaler. They gave the old blubber-hunter a Chris-
tian and home-like look.

I did not go on shore, and therefore, have noth-
ing to relate, either concerning Longwood, the res-
idence of Napoleon, or of his Tomb. I feel that it
was a misfortune to me, and I lament it — ^but let
no one else lament it.

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VOYAGE ABOUND THB WOBLD. 818

Descriptions of these localities abound — minute
ones, for those who love particulars — precise ones,
for those who love exactness^-aud amusing oneff
for those who desire a little humor to season dry
details.

The Island of St. Helena was discovered on St.
Helena's Day, May 21, 1501, by Juan de Nova Cas-
tella, a navigator in the service of Portugal. Con-
sequently, the Portugese first possessed it. Then
the Dutch got possession of it — then the English —
then the Dutch again— and so it went, like a shuttle-
cock, back and forth, for some time, between the
Dutch and English, until it finally settled (as many
other places have), into the hands of the English.

There are found upon it pretty conclusive evi-
dences of its volcanic origin. Diana's Peak, the
highest part, is 2,700 feet above the level of the
sea. The shape of the Island is a compromise be-
tween round and square. The greatest distance
across it is ten miles ^aud a half. Its area is forty-
seven square miles. It lies in south latitude 16® 67^
The distance to the nearest point of Africa is
1,400 miles — to the nearest point of South America
2,000 miles.

We were at St Helena but two days. We
sailed just as the sun was setting, and the Corinthr
ian sailed in company. We packed on everything^

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alow and aloft, and the island soon disappeared in
the gloom. Next morning the Corinthian was two
or three miles ahead. She was a very fast sailen
At ten o'clock she lay by for us to come up. We
passed close by her stern. My father lifted his bat
to the ladies, to whom he bad been introduced, ex-
qhanged a few words with tbe captain, and then
we were out of bearing. Having thus said good-
bye, the whaleman filled away again. He steered
more to the westward than we did, and at night
was hull down. We pursued our solitary way.
Ascension was visible when we passed its latitude,
but it was very dim and distant.

When we drew near the Equator tbe trade
wind began to fail us. A short calm succeeded,
then a succession of ligbt winds from all points of
the compass. All of one afternoon tbe wind held
from the south. The studding sails were run up on
botb sides in order to get as much distance as we
could out of it. Before night, however, it began
to cbange. First it was south-east, tben east, then
north-east. The studding sails were hauled down,
and the yards gradually braced forward. At lengtb
the wind came from north. Still we did not rig in
tbe studding-sail boom, or unreeve tbe studding-sail
gear, because it was possible the wind might con-
tinue to cbange, and give us a chance to set the
-sails again. But by four o'clock tbe succeeding

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VOYAGE ABOUKD THE WOfiLD. 815

morning there was no further change, save that the
sky grew darker at the north. At that hour the
starboard watch went below, and the larboard came
on deck. My father, who had been up most of the
night, directed Mr. Jackson, if the wind did not
change within an hour, to unreeve the studding-sail
gear, rig in the booms, and furl the light sails. He
then went below and lay down in his cot.

I awoke in the morning jiist as the grey dawn
was stealing into the cabin windows. Not a sound
could be heard, or a motion felt. I lay still awhile.
A bed feels good in the moniing, on board a ship,
as well as on shore.

By-and-by I heard my father jump out of his
cot, and I knew by his movements that he was con-
sulting the barometer, which hung in the skylight.
After a smothered exclamation or two, he seemed
to be hastily putting on his pants. I sprang out,
and pulled on mine. Then he hurried to the deck,
and I followed close behind. As I passed the bar-
ometer, I gave it a flying look, and saw, as I had
suspected, that it had fallen alamaingly. When we
reached the deck, which was pretty quickly, Mr.
Jackson was moving from aft, rubbing his eyes, and
not yet half awake. A glance aloft showed that he
had neglected his orders. The studding-sail booms
were out, the gear all rove, and all sail set, from
the flying jib to the spanker — ^from the royals *

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the deck. And jast to windward, close aboard, was
a furious squall bearing down upon us. Before it,
on the water, went a line of white foam. Above
this was a black, perpendicular, impenetrable wall,
reaching to the frantically flying clouds.

** Go below, sir ! " said my father to Mr. Jack-
son. ** Go directly below, sir. Hard up your wheel
— work sharp I Call all hands. Clew up royals and
topgallant sails, fore aud aft. Down flying jib and
staysails. Brail up the spanker ^"

I heard no more, for I had clewed up the miz-
zen royal, and was on my way up to tiirl it.

The ship was falling off rapidly, and I felt cer-
tain she would have her steiii presented to the
squall when it struck. As I gained the topmast
crosstrees, the topgallant yard settled away. With
idl the activity I was master of I clambered along.
I had just got the little pocket handkerchief thing
gathered up, when the squall struck. The topgallant
sail swelled out and threshed. At every flop the
mast jumped back and forth in a way that made it
difficult for me to hold on. I twisted one leg about
the backstay, and then, feeling secure, went to
work. Both arms were employed in keeping the
sail in the furl, and the great difficulty was to get
hold of the bunt gasket This I did after a while,
and then the rest of the furling was easily aocom.

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VOYAGE ABOUND THJK WOELD. 317

plifihed. In my descent I aided in furling the top-
gallant sail.

When I had reached the deck, the ship was begin-
ning to come to the wind again, and I heard the
order given to settle away the fore and mizzen top-
sails for reefing. It was at a great expense of
labor, and not until after some time had closed,
that all things were put to rights. Then the old
ship, with her head about W. N. W., and away
down on her broadside, clawed to windward what
she could.

Mr. Jackson was off on duty. With his accus-
tomed disregard for truth, he denied that he had
slept upon his watch. And as to the studding-sail
booms and gear, he said he was about to see to it
all. He had not deemed the squall, which he had
been watching all the time, was so near.

The man at the wheel, however, declared that
Mr. Jackson had been sleeping, and moreover, (this
he added privately to me,) he might have slept
until the ship herself fell overboard, before he would
have roused him. Evidently this man did not ad-
mire the worthy Mr. J.

April Ist we crossed the equinoctial line for the
sixth and last time. ' Shortly after, we crossed our
old track from Bath to San Francisco. This was
indubitable proof that the earth is round.

Again we saw the Sargasso Sea, and its floating

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318 BKMIKISCSNCSS OF A

islands of matted weeds. This was an indication
that we were approaching our native land again.

Mr. Jackson, having promised better f:\shions,
was reinstated in his office. We passed in sight of
the Azores, and while they were yet in view, the
wind died away. An English brig, bound to the
south, was also becalmed within a mile of us. Sup-
pocing that she was not long ont, our boat was
lowered, and Mr. Jackson boarded her to learn the
news. He returned with a bushel of potatoes, and
a bundle of newspapers. From these papers we
learned of the Crystal Palace at London, and how
high expectation was in regard to it.

"Good!" we exclaimed to each other. "We
shall be there (at London) at just the right
time."

After a few more days we reached the Channel,
and closed in with the land. The sun went down,
but no England was visible, much to our disappoint-
ment. In the evening, however, some one, having
mounted the rigging, discovered a light. We con-
jectured from its bearing that it was the Eddystone
Light. In an hour it was plainly to be seen from
deck. About midnight an English brig, bound out,
shoved along by our quarter.

After the usual hailing, my father made some
special inquiries.

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TOYAGX ABOUND TUX WORLD* 819

«*What Light is this in sight?''

" The Seddystone:'

**So I fiupposed. What time of tide is it?"

«'jrgh water."

" Thank yoa."

And the cockney craft slowly disappeared.

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

AREIVE AT LONDON. — SAUj FOR HOME. — GBAYBSBNP.
— ARRITE AT BOSTON. — CONCLUSION.

)HE wind blew down channel, and our pro-
gress was very slow* I3ack and forth, back
and forth, we went, between the Bill of Portland
and Cape La Hague. At this time Mr. Jackson
was guilty of another breach of duty, and was
again sent below. We were entirely ont of fuel,
and nearly out of provisions ; and when a Ports-
mouth pilot hailed us, off the Isle of Wight, he was
engaged to take the ship into Portsmouth, and soon
thereafter we were lying at anchor off Ryde.

Having refitted, we again put out, and now found
the wind more favorable. Beachy Head, Dungeness,
and the Cliffs of Dover were passed, and at night
we anchored in Margate Roads. The next morning
a steamer took us in tow, and we got on at a more
satisfactory rate.

At Gravesend we anchored to receive a visit
from the custom-house oiEcials. My father took pas-
sage on a river steamer, and proceeded forthwith
to London.

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, TOYAGE ABOtmD 1PHB WORLD. S2l

In the afternoon, an officer, with a gang of men
and the necessary instruments, came off to see that
the reyenue of Great Britain received no detriment
from us. They pried into everything, and probed
and sounded, as if they were medical men called to
examine the old ship's lungs. In searching my chest
for contraband articles, they discovered my won-
derful silk handkerchief bargain. This silk, by the
way, was not silk, but the fibre of bamboo. During
the passage I had cut the patterns i^art, and hem-
med them all. This, I had been told by the sailors,
would save them from being sealed up by the cus-
tom house men on our arrival. Now this revenue
man who had boarded us took a different view of
the matter. He told me to select as many as I
wished to use in port, and the remainder he would
seal up. I laid my hand upon the whole.

"Impossible," said he. "Four are as many as
you need."

A spirit of contradiction entered into me.

" Sir," I said. " the whole eight pieces are not
four handkerchiefs. See," and I placed two of the
flimsy things together — " you wouldn't dare to blow
your nose hard on these two together."

" Select four," he said, in a very cross tone ;
we have no time to talk."

I became angry and saucy. "Do you fear I'll
sell them? Do you think your countrymen fools
enough to buy such stuff? Green as I am, I — "

ToytftAfWIBdiJlt World. 21 Digitized by CjOOglC

822 BBMUOBCBKOXS OF ▲

He did not wait to hear any more of mj har-
anguey but takiug up four of the disputed rags,
carried them off out of the state room. I went on
deck in a rage, where I tramped about grandly on
the high-heeled boots of my passion. Pretty soon
one of the revenue men called me below. The
officer himself was standing in the forward cabin
with a bundle by him which had been opened. He
called my attention to it. I saw a small silk shawl,
several silk handkerchiefs, and a few other things
which I am now unable to mention. The whole
had been wrapped up in a piece of old canvass.

"Are these things yours?" asked the officer.

"No," I answered, very shortly and sharply.

He looked hard at me.

"Do you know to whom they do belong?"

"iVo."

"You act curiously," he said, looking straight
at me.

Just then my brother came in. He addressed
the officer:

" I can't imagine to whom they belong ; no one
will own them."

"I think they belong to him," said the officer,
indicating me.

" You are mistaken, sir," answered my brother.
"I don't think he ever saw them before, anymore
than you or I. I will answer for him."

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VOTAQE ABOUND THB WORLD. 323

Upon that I sought the deck again. Shortly
after, the officer with his men came out. He car-
ried the mysterious bundle with him. When he
passed me, he said in a low tone to my brother,
indicating me with his eye —

"Who is that?"

"My brother."

"Why is he so insolent?"

"He thinks you have imposed upon him by
taking his handkerchiefs. He has been hemming
on the precious things all the passage."

"Oh, ho!" said the officer, "that's it, is it?"

At the gangway he raised the bundle in his hand.

"Now then, one and all, who owns this?"

No answer.

" It's mine, then, I wish you a good day, sir."

The latter sentence was uttered to my brother ;
and having uttered it, the officer descended to his
boat, and the bundle went with him.

As the boat moved away, I looked after him
with a bitter expression, and very uncharitable feel-
ings. A deep sigh caused me to turn my head.
The Doctor had uttered It He, too, was looking
hard at the revenue boat I suspected the truth.

" Those things were yours, Doctor?" I said. .

« Dey was.". Another sigh.

•*You bought them for Mrs. Brown, didn't
you?" I asked, leaning towards him, and speaking

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324 ' BSMIKISCKNOKS OF A

itk a tone which said, or was intended to say, *^ Be
confidential with me now." But I have already
Baid that the Doctor, when sober, was an extraor-
dinarily discreet man. He answered me with a
a melancholy smile —

*'I'm tinking it don't make any difference who
I bought dem for. Dey's gone now."

So saying, he sought his sanctum, the galley.

"But, Doctor," I hallooed after him, "what in
thunder did you txj to hide them for?"

"Cause I'se a fooll"

And he entered the galley. Poor Doctor!

On entering the cabin, I saw on the transom, a
large tea chest, the lid of which was crossed by
red tape, and bore upon it an official seaL There,
among sundry other articles, were four of my no-
torious handkerchiefs. That trade had been a stand-
ing joke all the passage, and I had become «o sen-
sitive on the subject as to be ready to fight when-
ever it was mentioned.

At ten in the evening we were und«r way again,
and darting up river in tow of the steamer. The
pilot walked the deck all night. My brother kept
him company. I made up a fire in the galley, aad
kept the coffee pot Eteaming.

Mr. Jackson, now off duty, slept at his wilL The
Doctor was in bis berth. The watch below snored
under 4heir blankets, and the watch on deck upen

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VOTAGS ABOUKD THE WORI^. 325

tbeir chests. The chests were below, of course, and
you will call the above statement, that the watch
on deck were belmo^ paradoxical. Sailors under-
stand it.

Save the pilot, my brother, the helmsman, and
myself ail on board were soon, in a state of un-
consciousness. It was willuigly permitted, because
but little rest had been enjoyed by any one for two
or three days.

The pilot loved a cup of coffee at any time.
The night air, on this occasion, was chilly, and he
had a double relish for it. I placed the sugar on
a skylight, and a ti'ay of bread beside it, and oftener
than hourly, brought on the strong coffee, piping
hot. In the true spirit of companionship, my brother
emptied his cnpfull when the pilot emptied his. I
was not behindhand, and, when neither the coffee
pot nor the fire required my services, joined in the
measured tramp upon the deck. The pilot's heart
expanded under the influence of coffee and cigars.
He pointed out localities, and described them — for
we oonld not see them in the darkness; related
anecdotes, and questioned us concerning our own
country.

We were happy because a long voyage was be-
hind us, a great city just before us, and home one
step nearer. So tlie hours of the night passed on.
The fire did not go out, nor the coffee cool. The

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Steamer groaned and smote the water in front;
lights twinkled on either hand ; the wind bore off
the fresh smell of the land. Now and then a ship
rushed past us on the opposite course, in leading
strings to a strong monster of a tug, blowing out
her breath of blue flame. The ports of tho old
Dreadnought were all lighted up — not with battle
lanterns, but mild lamps, gleaming on the oots of
sick men.

Ah, happy time ! It is good to ascend the
Thames, even by starlight. Who says the Tiber I
the Tiber ? I say the Thames I the Thames I It»
banks are the seat of a nobler civilization, and a
wider empire than Rome ever dreamed of!

With the first gleams of day we made fast to
the gates of St. Catharine^s Docks. An hour sufficed
to make it high water, and at the expiration of that
time we hauled in.

The temptation is strong upon me to tell where
I went, and what I saw in this great city of Lon-
don. Here the ship did not lie, as in tho other
ports, off the city, but in it, and one stride canied
one from the gangway to the floor of the warehouses.
Consequently, I saw much of the city. To see it
was all I had to do. I ascended the spire of St
Paul's Church, and descended into the tunnel be-
neath tho Thames. Regent's Park But I set

out in this paragraph to make an explanation.

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VOYAGE ABOUin) THB WOBLP. 827

These Reminiscences have akeady exceeded all
reasonable limits. To continue them would be an
imposition upon those readers who, from principle,
read all books through, and a piece of unpardonable
stupidity in me. I shall therefore resolutely turn
my back upon the temptation of which I have spo-
ken, and make the best speed I can across the
Atlantic.

July 1st the ship,^ now loaded with iron and
chalk, was again ready for sea. When the tide
served, we passed out of the dock gates. Long
before night we anchored off Gravesend to receive
a second visit from the officers of the custom-house
— ^this time to utiseaL

Just before sunset my brother, the carpenter,
and myself, landed for a walk. Outside of the town
the green hedges and trim, beautiful landscape filled
us with admiration. This was Old England — ours
was New England. The whole town seemed taking
a holiday. No end of children were parading about
on donkeys.

What I saw that evening has enabled me to
appreciate, far better than I could otherwise have
done, the surroundings of Aunt Betsy Trotwood's
house at Dover, and the significance of her war-cry,
"Janet, donkeys!"

The next morning we left Gravesend, and were
soon out/ of the river.

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My brother was now mate, and a Scotsman, who
had come irom Calcutta as hand, was second mate.
This time we found the ship in good trim. She
was stif^ and stood up to the wind as obstinately
as we could desire. With a fine breeze we ran
down the Straits of Dover, The coast along the
counties of Kent and Sussex was on our right hand,
and we were afforded a fine view of the ** white
cliffs of Albion." A railroad l^n aloog the shore,
and the soft, chalky cliffy were tunneled through in
many places. We could see the locomotives with
their trains, entering these tunnels, and emerging
from them again.

•It was well for us, we soon learned, that the
ship was stiff and stood up to the wind, for we had
it nearly all the time directly ahead. At length,
after many days of tiresome beating, we beheld, and
recognized the distinguishing features of the Gulf
Stream, liat river in the ocean, concerning whic^ I
had a chapter long ago. A strong north-east wind
shoved us well into it, and then died away. The
north-east wind had been against the set of the
current, and, of course, got up a horrible, short,
tumbFrng sea. When the wind died away, and there
was nothing to steady the ship, she rolled and pitch-
ed in a way that was really wonderful We did not,
however, part a rope yarn, but a ship in sight of us
pitched her fore and mizzen topgallant masts out

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TOTAQE ABOUm) TBE WOXU). S29

Aagast 2l8t our reokoniog showed us to be well
in with the land. When night came it* was fright-
fully dark, and there were indications of a violent
tempest. The topsails were close reefed, and under
this short sail alone we headed in towards the land.
The expected wind did not come, but there was
lightning, and rain in excess.

This was when that terrible tornado passed
through Medford, Waltham, and West Cambridge,
and caused such destruction.

In the morning an old Dutch sailor was found
in an empty barrel under the topgallant forecastle.
When asked what he had crawled into diat for,
he said —

^^De Blizenl Mein Gott, I dinks de end of
de world pe comel"

This turbulent night was succeeded by a lovely
day. When the sun rose, land was visible along
the horizon to the west-north-west. All sail was
made. The light air from the north freshened, and
we drew rapidly in with the land, running free, and
were not long in bringing Cape Ann abreast

By the way, we were bound to Boston, which I
should have stated sooner. There are some who are
said to believe it is the only seaport and city in the
United States, or, indeed, in America. If any think I
believe so, because I did not sooner mention our port of
destination, let them be undeceived — ^I do not think sa

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Somewhere, the pilot came on board — I do not
remember where. But I do remember how bright
everything looked that day — objects ihaX have since
looked rough and forbidding. But if I endeavored
to say to any one, How bright the water is, and
how it sparkles i or, Isn't that splendid in there
about Nahant ! — if I undertook to make any such
expressions, I say, something hard rose in my throat,
and I could not articulate.

At dark the ship was fast to Battery Whar^
and the sails furled. The next morning the exodus
began.

I shook hands, long and hard, with the Doctor,
and wished him a happy meeting with Mrs. Brown.
Then the carpenter came out of the cabin with his
wallet in one hand, and a great wad of bank biUs
in the other ; and as soon as he got these into their
proper relative positions, and the whole into his
pocket, he extended his honest right hand. I wrung
it, and as I did so, I wished him (be blushing like
a schoolgirl the while,) a speedy and happy union
with Maryy a passenger upon whom he had been
sweet Then Joe Bacon, with hair curled, and smell-
ing no longer of the tar bucket, but of the barber's
shop, approached. We had quarrelled on the fore-
topsail yard the evening before, and each had prom-
ised the other, when firm footing was reached, such
a thrashing as he never got before. But all this

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VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. 331

was forgotten now, and ottr parting bordered slightly
on the touching. Lastly, young John Steward, our
beau Kanaka, curled and perfumed like his white
shipmate, and wearing Congress boots on his feet,
and gloves on his hands, and smiles on his dusky
face, came briskly up to say good-bye.

John was returned to his native Woahoo again,
according to contract; but I can never believe he
took kindly to old Arcadian habits again. There
might have been a time when John could expend
all his taste on the arrangement of his breech-clout,
and took pride in wearing it, but that time was past.

There, 1 think those last paragraphs clean the
whole thing up, and I may now saiely say — ^imagine
me making m^ best bow — that my Beminiscencss
OF A Voyage Around the World, are complete.

3hk D98

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AGENTS WANTED.

Energetic men, of a good business torn, are wanted in all parts
of the United States and Canadas, to act as agents in the sale of
the following described books published by B. A. BEAii, successor
to Db. a. W. Chase.

Persons wishing an agency, can obtain full particulars by
applying at the office, or by addressing by mail,

R. A. BEAL,
Ann Arbor, Mich,

DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE.

DK. CHASE'S EECIPES;

OR,

INFORMATION FOR EVERYBODY:

am Inyalaable ooUeotlon of about eight hundred

PRACTICAL RECIPES

For Merchants, Grocers, Saloon-keepers, Physicians, Drug-
gists, Tanners, Shoemakers, Hamessmakers, Painters, Jewelers,
B l acksmiths, Tinners, Gunsmiths, Farriers, Barbers, Bakers, Dyers,
Benoyaters, Farmers and Families generally. To which have been
added a rational treatment of Pleurisy, Inflammation of the Lungs,
and other Inflammatory Diseases, and also for General Female De-
bility and Irregularities : all arranged in their appropriate Depart-
ments, by

A, ^V\r, CHASE, M. T>.

Careftilly revised, illustrated and enlarged, with remarks and ftiU
explanations.

The work contains 881 pages; in Cloth binding it retails at $1.35 ;
Paper cover $1 ; Morocco, gilt back and sides, spiukled edged, 12.

The work is also published In the German Language, bound in
Cloth only, at the same price A% the English ed'ition.

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THE JUDD FAMILY;

OR,

AN EVENING VISIT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT :

WITH AN APPENDIX,

EzpUining Indent Frftotloet and Gnitomi at shown by their Hieroglyphioii

BY THE REV. JOHN SCOTFORD.

The Work is a popular treatise on the subject of Christian Bap-
tism, written in the half-narrative, half-conversational style. The
■abject is discussed in its several bearings— as to the proper mltfeett
and Scriptural mode. ,

The position taken by the author is so thoroughly substantiated
in the history of " The Judd Family," that some of our mostsd^i-
tiflo men, to whom the manuscript was submitted, most cheerftilly
recommended its publication. Without this assurance agreeing
with his own Judgment, the Publisher, who is thfe Author of ** Dr.
Chasers Becipes," would never have undertaken its publication.

Persons who have any doubt about the mode of Baptism, will
find great satisfieMstion in the perusal of this work.

- The Judd FAMrLY^is printed on good paper and contains 901
pages, bound in Cloth only, and retails at $1.

Ladles can do an excellent business, at least in their own city,
village, or neighborhood, in the sale of this very desirable Book.

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EEMINISCBNCES

YOYAQB AROUND THE WORLD.

By R. O. DAVIS.

This voyage was made in a new merchant ship, the "Hampton,*'
firom Bath, Maine, between September, 1849, and August, 1851, via
Cape Horn to San Francisco, and the Sandwich and other Islands
of the Western Pacific, to Calcutta, returning by the Cape of Gk>od
Hope to London, England, thence to Boston, touching at many
intermediate points along the route, in the Western Pacific, East
Indies, etc., of which no previous description had been given.

Who has not "heard of the far of sea ?" and who is not deeply in-
terested in all that relates to sea-life ?— This is a faithful narrative
of actual events, and describes, truthfully, the places visited daring
the voyage, as well as the habits of the people.

This Work is uniform in si£e with Dr. Chase's Recipes and
The Ji7dd FamiIjY, and contains over 800 pages, and retails, bound
in Cloth only, at $1.

And probably there is no other three books published, with
which an Agent can do as well as with these ; and certain is it, that
no other publisher in the United States allows an Agent to make
as large profits, as does the publisher of these works.

And, notwithstanding that Dr. Chase's Recipes have been
sold, more or less, in most of the Counties in the Northern States,
and that up to and including 1869, over 400,000 copies of the Work
were sold ; yet with The Juod Family and the Rbminiscencbsov
A Voyage Abound the Wobij>, Agents can and are doing better
than they have done when they had only the Recipes to work with ;
for where one or more of Dr. Chase's Recipes have been sold in a
neighborhood, all the families that did not purchase them, soon de-
,Bire the Book, because, on trial, it proves itself reliable ; Jience, the
Mecond Agent often does better than the ftrti. Let all those, then*
who are ** out of employment," or those who desire to better their
salary, lose no time in sending for Private and Deecriptive Circulars

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DR. CHASE'S

Steam Printing-House

"Wm first built in 1864, (22x70 feet four stories, including the base-
ment, wliich is used for the rre«8-room}, mainly for the purpose of
enabling the proprietor to meet the increasing demand for Db.
Chase's Recipes, at which time one-half of one story gave ample
room for one Department of the busmeES. But in 1865 he purchased
the PENU7SULAR CousiEB, and began i^do

JOB~PRl>rTlKa AKD BOOKrBlKDlKG

Adopting the .motto — gk>od work for the i«bast possible
PRICE— it soon became necessary to occupy the whole of one story
for each branch or Department; and ultimately finding our rooms
too small for the work demanded at our hands, in the summer of
1868, we made an addition of 40x70 feet, finishing each story In one
room < the Bindery.Compositor's, Press-room and Ofilce being each
89x68 feet, putting In a 22 horse Boiler and Engine, one of Hoe's
largest '* Jobbers," upon which a sheet S9x56 inches can be printed—
no other Press in the State equal to it in size,— also, another large
Adams' Book Press, upon which sixteen octavo pages can be
worked, (while nearly all other Western printing establishments
can onlv work eight pages, our press> work costing only one-hai«f
as much as theirs), with much other machinery and furnishing em-
ployment for OVER FORTY HANDS, and Seven Power Pre— e«
making it the

MOST COICPLETE PBINTING-HOUSE IN THE WEST.

Clergymen, Lawyers and others who may desire the publication
of Books, Pamphlets, Briefis, Sermons, Reports, Minutes, By-I^aws,
&c., &c., will find it greatly to their advanmge to correspond with us
before contracting elsewhere. Estimates cneerfuUy and promptly
furnished.

In sending for Estimates, please give the size of page, size of
type, number of pages, number of copies and style of binding.

Since purchasing the Peninsular Courier, we have chianged
its nameto

THE PENINSULAR COURIER AND FAMILY VISITANT,
Besides greatly enlarging it, and it is now acknowledged to be the
LASaEST, 0HEAFE8T AHD BEST FAMILT FAFSS IS THE STATE
In proof of this assertion we have only to state that at the time
of itsjpurchase the circulation was less than 800, now over SIXTEEN
HUNDRED copies, (being more than double that of any other paper in
the Countpy, and our subscriptioxT list is constantly increasing — De-
voted to News. Politics, Temperance, Morality and Religion —
Soundly Republican, alive in all its Departments.

$1.50 per year. Invariably In advance; to Clergymen, $1. Price
of "Dr. Chase's Recipes," by mail, $1.25; the "Judd Family," |1;
the " Reminiscences," |1.

4^ Any of these Books are sent, post paid^ to any part of the
United States, on the receipt by letter of the retail price.

Having purchased Dr. Chase's entire interest in these Books anil
Prtnting House, August 30th, 1860, all orders should hereafter be ad-
dressed to

^ R. A. SEAL, Proprietor.

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